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/ 




PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY 



THROUGH 



CENTRAL ARABIA 



Not in vain the nation-strivings, nor by chance the currents flow ; 
Error-mazed, yet truth- directed, to their certain goal they go 

Tey'yeeyat el Kobra', by Ebn-el-FaRid 









TO THE MEMORY 

OF 

CARSTEN NIEBUHR 

IN HONOUR OF THAT 

INTELLIGENCE AND COURAGE 

WHICH FIRST OPENED ARABIA TO EUROPE 



THE RESULTS OF A JOURNEY 
ITSELF INSPIRED BY THAT GREAT MEMORY 



Tli© White House. 



[ 



PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF 
A YEAR'S JOURNEY THROUGH 

CENTRAL AND EASTERN 

ARABIA 

(1862-63) 

by c_y 
WILLIAM GIFFORD PALGRAVE 

II 

LATE OF THE EIGHTH REGIMENT BOMBAY N, I. 






SIXTH EDITION 

MACMILLAN AND CO. 

1871 






yz 



LONDON' : PRINTED BY 

SPOTT1SWOODB AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE 

AND PARLIAMENT STREET 



MAP and PLANS 
portrait OF the author . . . To face title-page 

MAP OF ARABIA . . . • . „ page I 

PLAN OF HA'YEL . • . . „ „ 99 

Ri'ad „ „ 227 

„ the palace „ „ 302 

„ HOFHOOF ...,,-„„ 349 



K 






I 



V 






PREFACE 

A JOURNEY undertaken through Central and Eastern 
Arabia, with the purpose of observing rather than of 
publishing, put me in possession of certain details upon 
those parts of the great Peninsula, which may be worth 
recording. It is true that the circumstances of my 
visit, and the restraints inseparable from native dis- 
guise, abridged antiquarian research, impeded botanical 
or geological enquiry, and deprived me of the means 
for exact and scientific investigation ; for instance, of 
the customary requisites for verifying longitudes and 
latitudes, or determining the degrees of heat and cold, of 
moisture and aridity. Worse yet ! I was at times unable 
to take down a single note, much less could I display 
a sketching book or photographic apparatus, however 
fair the landscape and tempting the sun ; and hence my 
pen must unaided do the work of the pencil as well as 
its own, while my reader's imagination may help to 
supply the rest. Why this was so, a few pages of the 
narrative will make clear. On the other hand long 
years, the best part of my life indeed, passed in the 
East, familiarity with the Arabic language till it became 
to me almost a mother tongue, and experience in the 
ways and manners of " Semitic w nations, to give them 
their general or symbolic name, supplied me with ad- 
vantages counterbalancing in some degree the draw- 
backs enumerated above. Besides, the men of the land, 



vi Preface 

rather than the land of the men, were my main object 
of research and principal study. My attention was 
directed to the moral, intellectual, and political con- 
ditions of living Arabia, rather than to the physical 
phenomena of the country, — of great indeed, but, to 
me, of inferior interest. Meanwhile whatever observa- 
tions on antiquity and science, on- plants and stones, 
geography and meteorology I was able to make, I shall 
give, regretting only their inevitable imperfection. 

In the hard attempt to render Arab orthography by 
English letters, I have for the most part followed the 
system adopted by Lane in his delightful "Modern 
Egyptians/' as the nearest approximation intelligible to 
English readers. However, in representing the initial 
" Jeem" by "Dj "rather than by "}" (as in the middle 
or at the end of a word), I have quitted our countryman 
for the universal foreign method ; nor have I generally 
thought it necessary to accent vowels, contenting myself 
with an occasional mark (") of length, where uniformity 
of pronunciation appeared to require it. The few maps 
annexed, though without pretension to that exact nicety 
which sextants and measuring-lines can alone afford, 
may serve in some measure to illustrate the leading fea- 
tures and divisions of the principal provinces, towns, and 
country in general. 

In the present volume, my aim has been to offer the 
reader the personal narration of my adventures in Arabia. 
For fuller details on the religion, politics, and customs 
of the inhabitants, he is referred to the original work. 

Trebizond: April 29, 1867 



CONTENTS 



CHAP. 

I THE DESERT AND ITS INHABITANTS 



II THE DJOWF 



III THE NEFOOD AND DJEBEL SHOMER 



IV LIFE IN HA YEL 



V JOURNEY FROM HA YEL TO BEREYDAH 



VI BEREYDAH 



VII FROM BEREYDAH TO Rl'AD 



VIII RIAD . . • 

IX LIFE AT Rl'AD THE WAHHABEE DYNASTY 

X COURT OF Rl'AD — JOURNEY TO HOFHOOF 

XI FROM HOFHOOF TO KATEEF . . 

XII BAHREYN, KATAR, AND 'OMAN 

XIII THE COASTS OF 'OMAN — A SHIPWRECK . 
INDEX 



PAGR 
I 

6l 

99 

131 

158 
194 

227 
276 
302 

349 
379 
396 

4^3 



JOURNEY AND RESIDENCE 

IN 

CENTRAL AND EASTERN ARABIA 

CHAPTER I 
The Desert and its Inhabitants 

But I hold the gray barbarian, lower than the Christian child. — A. Tennyson 

Departure from Ma? an — Our Bedouin Companions — Our own Equipment 
and Disguise — Wells of Wokba — Five days of Stony Desert — Mode of 
Travelling — First News of Telal-ebn-Rasheed — Wells — Approach to 
Wadi Serhan — Hills — Semoom — View of the Desert — Its Change at 
Wadi Serhan — Sherarat Encampment — Bedouin Hospitality and Conver- 
sation — Their Social Condition — Samh and Mesad — Bedouin Wars — 
Route of Wadi Serhan : Sand-hills and Ghada — Remarks on the Camel 
— 'Azzam Sherarat of Mdgood — Change of Guides — Route to Djowf: 
Ostriches, Scorpions — Djebal-el-Djowf : Village of Djoon — First Meeting 
zvith the Men of Djowf— Gorges of the Valley. 

c\ 
" Once for all let us attempt to acquire a fairly correct and \ 
comprehensive knowledge of the Arabian Peninsula. With its 
coasts we are already in great measure acquainted ; several of 
its maritime provinces have been, if not thoroughly, at least 
sufficiently, explored ; Yemen and Hejaz, Mecca and Medinah, 
are no longer mysteries to us, nor are we wholly without in- 
formation on the districts of Hadramaut and 'Oman. But of 
the interior of the vast region, of its plains and mountains, its 
tribes and cities, of its governments and institutions, of its 
inhabitants, their ways and customs, of their social condition, 
how far advanced in civilization or sunk in barbarism, what do 
we as yet really know, save from accounts necessarily wanting 
in fulness and precision % It is time to fill up this blank in the 
map of Asia, and this, at whatever risks, we will now endeavour; 
either the land before us shall be our tomb, or we will traverse 

B 



2 The {Desert and its Inhabitants [Chap, i 

it in its fullest breadth, and know what it contains from shore 
to shore. Vestigia nulla retrorsuWi." 

Such were my thoughts, and such, more or less, I should 
suppose, those of my companion, when we found ourselves at 
fall of night without the eastern gate of Ma'an, while the Arabs, 
our guides ancl fellow-travellers, rilled their watdr-skins from a 
gushing source hard by the town walls, and adjusted the 
saddles and the burdens of their camels, in preparation for the 
long journey that lay before us and them. It was the evening 
j)f the 1 6th ^ June 1 862 ; the largest stars were already visible in 
the deep blue depths of a cloudless sky, while the crescent 
moon, high to the west, shone as she shines in those heavens, 
and promised us assistance for some hours of our night march. 
We were soon mounted on our meagre long-necked beasts, " as 
if," according -to the expression of an Arab poet, "we and our 
men were at mast-heads," and now we set our faces to the east. 
Behind us lay, in a mass of dark outline, the walls' and castle of 
Ma'an, its houses and gardens, and farther back in the distance 
the high and barren range of the Sheraa' mountains, merging 
into the coast chain of Hejaz. Before and around us extended 
a wide and level plain, blackened over with countless pebbles 
of basalt and flint, except where the moonbeams gleamed white 
on little intervening patches of clear sand, or on yellowish 
streaks of withered grass, the scanty product of the winter rains, 
and now dried into hay. Over all a deep silence, which even 
our Arab companions seemed fearful of breaking ; when they 
spoke it was in a half whisper and in few words, while the 
noiseless tread of our camels sped stealthily but rapidly through 
the gloom, without disturbing its stillness. 

Some precaution was not indeed wholly out of place, for 
that stage of the journey on which we were now entering was 
anything but safe. We were bound for the Djowf, the nearest 
inhabited district of Central Arabia, its outlying station, in fact. 
Now the intervening tract offered for the most part the double 
danger of robbers and of thirst, of marauding bands and of 
the summer season. The distance itself to be traversed was 
near two hundred miles in a straight line, and unavoidable 
circumstances were likely to render it much longer. For the 
wells, the landmarks of the traveller, and according to which he 
needs must shape his course, are not ordinarily arranged in 



KJ 



Chap, i] Md an to the Djowf 3 

lines of mathematical straightness ; and, besides, the necessity 
of avoiding districts frequented by hostile or suspected tribes 
often obliges the Bedouin to adopt some unaccustomed and 
circuitous route. 

Nor was the society itself that we were actually in of a nature 
much to reassure the mind, especially at the outset of such a 
journey. On my own comrade, indeed — a native of the village 
of Zahleh, in the plains of Coelo-Syria — I could fully rely. 
Hardy, young, and enterprising, he belonged to a locality whose 
inhabitants are accustomed to danger, while the contempt with 
which they look down on the neighbouring populations renders 
them habitually less susceptible than most of their countrymen 
to the ordinary impressions of fear in a strange land. But our 
Bedouin companions were a strange set : they were three in 
number; their leader, Salim-el-'Atneh, belonged to the Howeytat 
Arabs, a numerous and energetic tribe inhabiting the mountain 
district from Kerak on the Dead Sea shore to Ma'an. Our"" 
S*<C friend himself was a member of a powerful family among them, 
and near akin to the chiefs of the clan ; but he had rendered 
himself so unfortunately -conspicuous by repeated acts of 
robbery and pillage, with a supplementary murder now and 
then, that his position was at present hardly better than that of 
an outlaw. Lean in make and swarthy of features, his thin 
compressed lips implied settled resolution and daring pur- 
pose, while the calmness of his grey eye showed a cool and 
thoughtful disposition, not without some possible intimation 
of treachery. 

However, whatever drawbacks might exist in his outward 
appearance, or in his too well known personal history, his good 
sense and manly character afforded some ground of confidence 
in his present fidelity ; a brave and foresighted man, however 
unprincipled, may always be trusted to a certain extent. But 
I can hardly say so much for his two companions, 'Alee and 
Djordee, Sherarat Bedouins, and utter barbarians in appearance \s 
no less than in character, wild, fickle, reckless, and the capacity \ 
of whose intellect was as scanty as its cultivation. Indeed, 
Salim himself more than once advised us to avoid all familiarity 
with them, lest it should diminish the involuntary awe of the 
savage for civilized man. 

XA long and -very dirty shirt, reaching nearly to the ankles, a 
B2 



4 The Desert and its Inhabitants [Chap, i 

black cotton handkerchief over the head, fastened on by a twist 
of camel's hair, a tattered cloak, striped white and brown, a 
leather girdle, much the worse for wear, from which dangled a 
rusty knife, a long-barrelled and cumbrous matchlock, a yet 
longer sharp-pointed spear, a cartouche-belt, broken and 
coarsely patched up with thread — such was the accoutrement 
of these worthies, and such, indeed, is the ordinary Bedouin 
guise on a journey. \ Salim's own rigging out was of the same 
description,, only the respective items were of a somewhat better 
quality. 

Myself and my companion were dressed like ordinary middle- 
class travellers of inner Syria ; an equipment in which we had 
already made our way from Gaza on the sea-coast to Ma'an 
without much remark or unseasonable questioning fipm those 
whom we fell in with, while we traversed a country so often 
described already by Pococke, Laborde, and downwards, under 
the name of Arabia Petraea, that it would be superfluous for 
me to enter into any new account of it in the present work. 
Our dress then consisted partly of a long stout blouse of Egyp- 
tian hemp, under which, unlike our Bedouin fellow-travellers, 
we indulged in the luxury of the loose cotton drawers common 
in the East, while our coloured head-kerchiefs, though simple 
enough, were girt by 'akkals or head-bands of some pre- 
tension to elegance ; the loose red leather boots of the country 
completed our toilet. 

But in the large travelling-sacks at our camels' sides were 
contained suits of a more elegant appearance, carefully con- 
cealed from Bedouin gaze, but destined for appearance when 
we should reach better inhabited and more civilized districts. 
This reserve toilet numbered articles like the following : 
coloured overdresses, the Syrian combaz, handkerchiefs where 
silk stripes relieved the plebeian cotton, and girdles of good 
material and tasteful colouring ; such clothes being absolutely 
requisite to maintain our assumed character. Mine was that 
of a native travelling doctor, a quack if you will ; and ac- 
cordingly a tolerable dress was indispensable for the credit of 
my medical practice. My comrade, who in a general way 
passed for my brother-in-law, appeared sometimes as a retail 
merchant, such as not unfrequently visit these countries, and 
sometimes as pupil or associate in my assumed profession. 



chap, ij Md an to the Djowf 5 

Our pharmacopoeia consisted of a few but well selected and 
efficacious drugs, inclosed in small tight-fitting tin boxes, stowed 
away for the present in the ample recesses of our travelling- 
bags j about fifty of these little cases contained wherewithal to 
kill or cure half the sick men of Arabia. Medicines of a liquid 
form had been as much as possible omitted, not only from the 
difficulty of ensuring them a safe transport amid so rough a 
mode of journeying, but also on account of the rapid evapora- 
tion unavoidable in this dry and burning climate. In fact two 
or three small bottles, whose contents /had seemed to me of 
absolute necessity, soon retained nothing save their labels to 
indicate what they had held, in spite of air-tight stoppers and 
double coverings. I record this, because the hint may be useful 
to any one who should be inclined to embark in similar guise 
on the same adventures. 

Some other objects requisite in medical practice, two or three 
European books for my own private use, and kept carefully 
secret from Arab curiosity, with a couple of Esculapian treatises 
in good Arabic, intended for professional ostentation, com- 
pleted this part of our fitting-out. But besides these, an ample 
provision of cloth, handkerchiefs, glass necklaces, pipe-bowls, 
and the like, for sale in whatever localities might not offer 
sufficient facility for the healing art, filled up our saddle-bags 
well nigh to bursting. Last, but not least, two large sacks of 
coffee, the sheet-anchor and main hope of our commerce, 
formed alone a sufficient load for a vigorous camel. And now 
to our march once more. 

Several hours of a rapid trot had already borne us far from 
Ma'an, and the reddening moonlight was almost faded from the 
west, when our guides halted on a little patch of dry grass amid 
the black and stony plain, and after interchanging a few words, 
made the camels kneel down, discharged them of their burdens, 
and then turned them loose to graze at will, while one of the band 
kept watch, and the rest lay down for a few hours' sleep near the 
baggage, which we had piled up close by ; it was, however, a 
mere nap, and the first clear streak of light had hardly appeared 
in the east below the silvery morning star, when we were aroused 
to relade our beasts, and remount for our onward journey. 

We had ridden many a weary mile ; it was now about two 
hours before* noon, and the heat was most oppressive, when we 



6 The Desert and its Inhabitants tchap. i 

saw before us some scattered and dwarfish trees, indications 
of the waters of Wol^ba, towards which our course had been 
directed. While we were yet at some distance from the spot, 
one of our Bedouins urged forward his camel to a sort of canter, 
and set off in a circuitous line to assure himself that no indi- 
viduals of a hostile tribe were lurking in the neighbourhood of 
the wells. But friend or enemy, nobody was there, all was 
silent ; and the ruined walls of an abandoned village, scattered 
up and down on the gravelly slopes and by the dry bed of a 
winter torrent, looked hopelessly desolate in the steady glare of 
noon. Here several shallow pits, some half choked with stones, 
others offering a scanty supply of muddy and rather brackish 
water, presented themselves close by the thorny trees. From 
these wells we now filled the water-skins, an operation per- 
formed all the more carefully and thoroughly, since no other 
water whatever was to be had for five full days' journey ahead, 
put to it what speed we might ; a serious consideration, 
especially in the latter days of June. 

When all this was finished, we remounted, and set our 
camels' heads once more due east, while I turned to look 
round on the wide landscape. The blue range of Sheraa' was 
yet visible, though fast sinking in the distance, whileflbefore us 
and on either hand extended one weary plain in aTBIack\ 
monotony of lifelessness. Only on all sides lakes of mirage i 
lay mocking the eye with their clear and deceptive outline A 
whilst here and there some dark basaltic rock, cropping up at 
random through the level, was magnified by the refraction of 
the heated atmosphere into the semblance of a fantastic crag 
or overhanging mountain. Dreary land of death, in which even 
the face of an enemy were almost a relief amid such utter 
solitude. But for five whole days the little dried-up lizard of 
the plain, that looks as if he had never a drop of moisture in 
his ugly body, and the jerboaa', or field-rat of Arabia, were 
the only living creatures to console our view. 

It was a march during which we might have almost repented 
of our enterprise, had such a sentiment been any longer pos- 
sible or availing. Day after day found us urging our camels to 
their utmost pace, for fifteen or sixteen, hours together out of 
the twenty-four, under a well-nigh vertical sun, which the 
Ethiopians of Herodotus might reasonably be excused for 



chap, i] Md#n to the Djowf 7 

cursing, with nothing either -in the landscape around or in the 
companions of our way to relieve for a moment the eye or the 
mind. Then an, insufficient halt for rest or sleep, at most o:' 
two or three hours, soon interrupted by the oft-repeated admo- 
nition, " if we linger here we all die of thirst," sounding in 
our ears ; and then to remount our jaded beasts and push 
them on through the dark night, amid the constant probability 
of attack and plunder from raving marauders. For myself, I 
was, to mend matters, under the depressing influence of a 
tertian fever contracted at Ma/an, anjd what between weariness 
and low spirits, began to imagine seriously that no waters re- 
mained before us except the waters of death fqr us and of 
oblivion for our friends. The days, wore by like, a delirious 
dream, till we were often almost unconscious. of the ground we 
travelled over and of the journey on which we were engaged. 
One only herb appeared at our feet to give some appearance of 
variety and life ; it was the bitter and poisonous colocynth of 
the desert. 

Our order of road was this. Long before dawn w.e were on 
our way, and paced it till the sun, having attained about half- 
way between the horizon and the zenith, assigned the moment 
of alighting for our morning meal. This our Bedouins always 
took good care should be in some hollow or low ground, for 
concealment's sake ; in every other respect we had ample liberty 
of choice, for one patch of black pebbles with a little sand and 
withered grass between was just like another ; shade or shelter, 
or anything like them, was wholly out of the question in such 
" nakedness of the land." We then alighted, and my com- 
panion and myself would pile up the baggage into a sort of wall, 
to afford a half-screen from the scorching sun-rays, and here 
recline awhile.^^Next came the culinary preparations, in perfect 
accordance with our provisions, which were simple enough ; 
namely, a bag of coarse flour, mixed with salt, and a few dried 
dates ; there was no third item on the, bill of fare. We now 
took a few handfuls of flour, and one of the. Bedouins kneaded 
it with his unwashed hands or dirty bit of leather, pouring over 
it a little of the dingy water contained in the skins, and then 
patted out this exquisite paste into, a large round cake, about 
an inch thick, and five or six inches across. Meanwhile 
another had lighted a fire of dry grass, colocynth roots, and 




8 The Desert and its Inhabitants [Chap, i 

dried earners dung, till he had prepared a bed of glowing 
embers ; among these the cake was now cast, and immediately 
covered up with hot ashes, and so left for a few minutes, then 
taken out, turned, and covered again, till at last half-kneaded, 
half-raw, half-roasted, and burnt all round, it was taken out to 
be broken up between the hungry band, and eaten scalding hot, 
before it should cool into an indescribable leathery substance, 
capable of defying the keenest appetite. A draught of dingy 
water was its sole but suitable accompaniment. 

The meal ended, we had again without loss of time to resume 
our way from mirage to mirage, till " slowly flaming over all, 
from heat to heat, the day decreased," and about an hour before 
sunset we would stagger off our camels as best we might, to 
prepare an evening feast of precisely the same description as 
that of the forenoon, or more often, for fear lest the smoke of 
our fire should give notice to some distant rover, to content 
ourselves with dry dates, and half an hour's rest on the sand. 
At last our dates, like Esop's bread sack, or that of Beyhas, his 
Arab prototype, came to an end ; and then our supper was a 
soldier's one ; what that is my military friends will know ; but 
grit and pebbles excepted, there was no bed in our case. After 
which, to remount, and travel on by moon or star light, till a 
little before midnight we would lie down for just enough sleep 
to tantalize, not refresh. 

"Wilt thou go on with me ?" gentle reader, for an Arab trip ? 
For myself, I confess that the remembrance of that exquisite 
little tale entitled the " Sleeping Beauty," by a friend, if he will 
allow me so to call him, whom to quote is to name, and of the 
moral therein contained — though its author archly denies its 
having any — did much to invigorate me on this and on similar 
occasions ; it's " the many fail, the one succeeds," and the " trust 
to light on something fair," kept up my courage, and thus may 
be fairly said to have " hooked it to some useful end," though 
perhaps not precisely the one intended by Mr. Tennyson. But 
my reader, like myself, must labour yet awhile through the 
difficulties of this desert "hedge," till he breaks in on the fair 
one in all her beauty, if, like the prince, his courage does not 
fail him ; better things lie before us in the next chapter. 

But in addition to what encouragement my comrade and 
myself could gather from memory and inner thought, our 



chap, i] Mddn to the Djowf 9 

Bedouin companions too cheered us ever and anon, by assuring 
us that although this hasty manner of travelling was absolutely 
necessary in a land alike beset by drought and danger, we 
might hope for easier marches and lighter privations so soon as 
we should have reached the boundary frontier of Telal-ebn- 
Rasheed, the sovereign of Djebel Shomer. These desirable 
limits, said they, commenced at Wadi Serhan, or the Valley of 
Serhan, which we were fast approaching, and where water was 
good and copious, while the mighty name of Telal protected 
the region far and wide from fear of enemies and marauders 
by night and by day. 

Much did our Bedouins talk of Telal, and much extol his 
vigour, his equity, his active vigilance, his military prowess, 
though at the same time they repined at his unwarrantable 
repression of Bedouin liberty, and the restraints he imposed on 
the innate rights of nomades to plunder, rob, and murder at 
their own free discretion — complaints which, contrary to the 
intention of our informants, rather raised than diminished our 
esteem for this ruler, be he who he might. We could, however, 
as yet obtain but little exact information about the personal 
history or the political position of this prince. Whether he was 
of supreme or of subaltern power, whether founder of his king- 
dom, or heir, what might be the extent or character of the 
kingdom itself, and much else, we would fain have learnt, and 
tried to gather from Salim, 'Alee, and Djordee, but to no end : 
their ideas and language on a matter so far above them were 
alike confused. All that we could for the moment know with 
certainty, was that this chief resided in a town called IJa'yel, 
situated in Djebel Shomer, somewhere to the south-east ; that 
he was very powerful; that in his dominions neither plunder nor 
other violation of public order was permitted; and that from 
Wadi Serhan, south and east, his word was law. With such 
information we were obliged to content ourselves for the present, 
in hope that nearer approach would make all clear. 

It was now the 22nd of June, and the fifth day since our 
departure from the wells of Wokba. The water in the skins 
had little more to offer to our thirst than muddy dregs, and as 
yet no sign appeared of a fresh supply. At last about noon we 
drew near some hillocks of loose gravel and sandstone a little 
on our right ; our Bedouins conversed together awhile, and then 



10 The Desert and its Inhabitants [Chap, i 

turned their course and ours in that direction. " Hold fast on 
your camels, for they are going to be.startled and jump about," 
said Salim to us. Why the camels should be. startled I could 
not understand ; when on crossing the mounds just mentioned, 
we suddenly came on five or six black tents, of the very poorest 
description, pitched near some wells, excavated in the gravelly 
hollow below. The reason of Salim's precautionary hint now 
became evident, for our silly beasts started at first sight of the 
tents, as though they had never seen the like before, and then 
scampered about^ bounding friskily here and there, till what 
between their jolting (for a camel's run much resembles that of 
a cow) and our own laughing, we could hardly keep on their 
backs. However, thirst soon prevailed over timidity, and they 
left off their pranks to approach the well's edge, and sniff at the 
water below. 

We alighted. Immediately the denizens of the tents, a few 
women and one or two old men belonging to the Sherarat tribe, 
which is scattered over the whole of this desert, approached to 
give their " Marhaba," "Ya'hla," ie., "welcome," "honoured 
guests," and so forth, and to ask many questions why and 
whence our journey. Nor was their curiosity without reason; 
the route which had brought us was one little travelled at any 
time, especially by men from Damascus or its neighbourhood, 
and for such our dress and accent gave us out to be; and still 
less at this period of the year, in the very height of summer. 
But we were too tired for much discourse, and far more de- 
sirous to get into a little shade after so long a running, than to 
hold protracted parley. So we left our Bedouins, themselves, 
too, well nigh warn out with fatigue, to draw water, as they 
could from the wells and pour it into the little hollows close by 
for the benefit of their camels, an operation in which we should 
have been more of a hindrance than a help ; and, after due 
permission asked and granted, we crept into a low and narrow 
tent, whose black coverings were admirably calculated for the 
exclusion of the luminous and transmission of the caloriferous 
rays of the mid-day sun. Here we lay stretched out on the 
sand till it should please our companions to come and force us 
to rise. This the wretches attempted to do after a very short 
interval; but we answered, that as we had now got a good 
supply of water, and had reached, or nearly so, the boundary 



Chap, i] Met an to the Djowf 1 1 

limits of Ebn-Rasheed, they could have no sufficient motive 
for being in such tremendous haste. Salim, arch-weary as he 
was, admitted the force of our argument, and we remained 
under cover till the : declining sun and cooler air. Meanwhile 
the mistress of the tent, an ugly good-natured looking hag, like 
most Bedouin dames, entertained us with a long diatribe on 
the tyranny of Ebn-Rasheed, and the coercion he exercised 
over her countrymen, from which we concluded that he was 
probably doing the duty of an order-loving, king, and esteemed 
him accordingly. J 

When in the afternoon we resumea our/ way once more, we 
found the general appearance of the desert somewhat modified 
by larger patches of sand or grass on its black surface, and 
these continued to increase in number and size as we went on. 
Next day, the 23rd of the month, yet clearer signs of our 
approach to Wadi Sirhan became visible, and as we took a 
somewhat northerly direction in order to join in with that 
valley, we sighted far off in the extreme distance a blue range 
of hills, running from west to east, and belonging to the Syro- 
Arabic waste, though unnoticed, to the best of my knowledge, 
in European maps. Meanwhile the sand-patches continued to 
increase and deepen on all sides, and our Bedouins flattered 
themselves with reaching Wadi Sirhan before nightfall. 

Here, however, an incident occurred which had well nigh 
put a premature end to the travels and the travellers, together. 
My readers, no less than myself, must have heard or read 
many a story of the semoom, or deadly wind of the desert, but 
for me I had never yet met it in full force ; and its modified 
form, or shelook, to use the Arab phrase, that is, the sirocco 
of the Syrian waste, though disagreeable enough, can hardly 
ever be termed dangerous. Hence I had been almost inclined 
to set down the tales told of the strange phenomena and fatal 
effects of this " poisoned gale " in the same category with the 
moving pillars of sand, recorded in many works of higher 
historical pretensions than "Thalaba*" At those perambulatory 
columns and sand-smothered caravans the Bedouins, when- 
ever I interrogated them on the subject, laughed outright, and 
declared that beyond an occasional dust storm, similar to those 
which any one who has passed a summer in Scinde can hardly 
fail to have experienced, nothing of the romantic kind just 



12 The Desert and its Inhabitants [Chap, i 

alluded to occurred in Arabia. But when questioned about the 
semoom, they always treated it as a much more serious matter, 
and such in real earnest we now found it. 

It was about noon, the noon of a summer solstice in the un- 
clouded Arabian sky over a scorched desert, when abrupt and 
burning gusts of wind began to blow by fits from the south, 
while the oppressiveness of the air increased every moment, till 
my companion and myself mutually asked each other what this 
could mean, and what was to be its result. We turned to 
enquire of Salim, but he had already wrapped up his face in 
his mantle, and, bowed down and crouching on the neck of his 
camel, replied not a word. His comrades, the two Sherarat 
Bedouins, had adopted a similar position, and were equally 
silent. At last, after repeated interrogations, Salim, instead of 
replying directly to our questioning, pointed to a small black 
tent, providentially at no great distance in front, and said, " try 
to reach that, if we can get there we are saved." He added, 
" take care that your camels do not stop and lie down ; " and 
then, giving his own several vigorous blows, relapsed into 
muffled silence. 

We looked anxiously towards the tent ; it was yet a hundred 
yards off, or more. Meanwhile the gusts grew hotter and more 
violent, and it was only by repeated efforts that we could urge 
our beasts forward. The horizon rapidly darkened to a deep 
violet hue, and seemed to draw in like a curtain on every side ; 
while at the same time a stifling blast, as though from some 
enormous oven opening right on our palh, blew steadily under 
the gloom • our camels too began, in spite of all we could do, 
to turn round and round and bend their knees preparing to lie 
down. The semoom was fairly upon us. 

Of course we had followed our Arabs' example by muffling 
our faces, and now with blows and kicks we forced the stag- 
gering animals onwards to the only asylum within reach. So 
dark was the 'atmosphere, and so burning the heat, that it 
seemed that hell had risen from the earth, or descended from 
above. But we were yet in time, and at the moment when 
the worst of the concentrated poison-blast was coming around, 
we were already prostrate one and all within the tent, 
with our heads well wrapped-up, almost suffocated indeed, 
but safe ; while our camels lay without like dead, their 



chap, i] Ma! an to the Djowf 13 

long necks stretched out on the sand awaiting the passing of 
the gale. 

On our first arrival the tent contained a solitary Bedouin 
woman, whose husband was away with his camels in the Wadi 
Sirhan. When she saw five handsome men, like us, rush thus 
suddenly into her dwelling without a word of leave or saluta- 
tion, she very properly set up a scream to the tune of the four 
crown pleas, murder, arson, robbery, and I know not what else. 
Salim hastened to reassure her by calling out " friends," and 
without more words threw himself flat on the ground. All 
followed his example in silence. cJ 

We remained thus for about ten minutes, during which a 
still heat like that of red-hot iron slowly passing over us was 
alone to be felt. Then the tent walls began again to flap in 
the returning gusts, and announced that the worst of* the 
semoom had gone by. We got up, half dead with exhaustion, 
and unmufiled our faces. My comrades appeared more like 
corpses than living men, and so, I suppose, did I. However, 
I could not forbear, in spite of warnings, to step out and look 
at the camels ; they were still lying flat as though they had 
been shot. The air was yet darkish, but before long it bright- 
ened up to its usual dazzling clearness. During the whole 
time that the semoom lasted, the atmosphere was entirely free 
from sand or dust; so that I hardly know how to account for j 
its singular obscurity. 

Our hostess, once freed from her not unwarrantable alarms, 
had also, remained motionless and well wrapped-up in a corner 
of the tent till the worst was over, and then, by the active 
vivacity of her tongue, she gave the best possible proof that 
the semoom left no dumbness by way of symptom behind it, 
and satisfied all her pent-up curiosity regarding us after the 
involuntary restraint imposed by the circumstances of our first 
introduction. Late in the evening we continued our way ; and 
next day early entered Wadi Sirhan, where the character of 
our journey underwent a considerable modification. For the 
northerly Arabian desert, which we are now traversing, offers, 
in spite of all its dreariness, some spots of comparatively better 
cast, where water is less scanty and vegetation less niggard. 
These spots are the favourite resorts of Bedouins, and serve too 
to direct the ordinary routes of whatever travellers, trade-led or 



14 The Desert and its Inhabitants [Chav. i 

from other motives, may venture on this wilderness. These 
oases, if indeed they deserve the name, are formed by a slight 
depression in the surrounding desert surface, and take at times 
the form of a long valley, or of an oblong patch, where rock and 
pebble give place to a light soil more or less intermixed with 
sand, and concealing under its surface a tolerable supply of 
moisture at no great distance below ground. Here in conse- 
quence bushes and herbs spring up, and grass, if not green all 
the year round, is at least of somewhat longer duration than 
elsewhere; certain fruit-bearing plants, of a nature to suffice for 
meagre Bedouin existence, grow here spontaneously; in a word, 
man and beast find not exactly comfortable accommodation, but 
the absolutely needful supply. Such a spot is Wadi Sirhan, 
literally "the Valley of the Wolf," probably so called from 
some old tradition in which that animal made a principal 
figure, but the precise origin of the name is lost amid the uncer- 
tainty of past Arab days. This long and sinuous depression 
bears in the main from north-west to south-east, or nearly so, 
and reaches across half the northern desert like a long ladder 
whose head is placed near Bosra in the Howran, at no great 
distance from Damascus, while its base rests on the Djowf, the 
preliminary province and vestibule of central Arabia. Thus it 
affords the customary route for mercantile business to and fro 
between Syria and the Djowf. In addition, the numerous 
Syro-Arabic tribes of the Ru'alah Bedouins frequent its upper 
extremity, while the centre arid south-eastern portions are al- 
most exclusively tenanted by the Sherarat Arabs. No other 
valley of equal length, and, I cannot say equal fertility, but of 
less absolute barrenness, exists in this part of the country. 
Water is almost everywhere to be found throughout Wadi Sir- 
han at a depth varying from ten to twenty feet, and the vegeta- 
tion offers a certain degree of abundance and variety. 

It was on the 24th of June that we entered this valley, glad 
to find ourselves at last on the high road — though the phrase 
hardly suits a land where no roads soever exist — to the Djowf; 
while our Bedouins, equally tired with ourselves of chawing dry 
dates and cinder cake, entertained us with anticipatory descrip- 
tions of the hospitable greeting we should daily meet with in 
the Valley of the Wolf. 

In fact we had not long wound among the little sandy hills 



chap, i] Mdan to the Djowf 1 5 

which stud this low ground, when we saw far and near planted 
amid the bushes numerous black tents, the dwellings of Kedar, 
likened once of a time by- Solomon to his dusky Egyptian bride, 
but of so miserable an appearance that we felt little confidence in 
the realization of the " flattering tale " told us by Bedouin hope. 
The truth is, that among the miserable tribes of nomades that 
infest Arabia, the Sherarat are the most miserable. They own 
very few flocks of sheep; a horse is a rarity in the tribe; their 
entire wealth, if wealth it be, consists in their camels, and cer- 
tainly of these last there is no want; — unlike the northern 
Bedouins, Seba'a, Ru'alah, Fidha'an, an$ their brethren, whose 
large droves of sheep, joined to numerous studs of horses, sup- 
ply them with a certain opulence and means of trade, enabling 
them to live if not altogether like civilized beings, at least free 
from the privations and misery of mere savage life, the melan- 
choly lot of our new friends, the Sherarat Arabs. 

Scattered over the whole belt of desert just described, with 
Wadi Sirhan for their ordinary gathering-place, the Sherarat 
acknowledge no common chief of their own, no general leader 
or head. They are divided and subdivided into countless bands, 
each of which has a separate chief, worthy in every respect of 
his subjects. Almost all, however, chiefs and clansmen, have 
been of late brought collectively under some kind of subser- 
vience by the iron arm of Telal, and pay him accordingly their 
tribute of yearly camels and daily grumbling. But the character 
and condition of these nomades will be sufficiently illustrated 
by our intercourse with them now about to commence. 

Passing tent after tent, and leaving behind us many a tattered 
Bedouin and grazing camel, Salim at last indicated to us a 
group of habitations, two or three of which seemed of some- 
what more ample dimensions than the rest, and informed us 
that our supper that night (for the afternoon was already on the 
decline) would be at the cost of these dwellings. " Ajaweed," 
i.e., "generous fellows," he subjoined, to encourage us by the 
prospect of aTiandsome- reception. Of course we could only 
defer to his -better judgment; and in a few minutes were 
alongside of the black goat'srlaii^overings where lodged our 
intended hosts. 

The chief or chieflet, for such he was, came out, and inter 
changed a few words of masonic laconism with Salim. The 



i6 The Desert and its Inhabitants [Chap, i 

latter then came up to us, where we remained halted in expect- 
ation, led our camels to a little distance from the tents, made 
them kneel down, helped us to disburden them, and while we 
installed ourselves on a sandy slope opposite to the abodes of 
the tribe, recommended us to keep a sharp look-out after our 
baggage, since there might be pickers and stealers among our 
hosts, for all "Ajaweed" as they were. Disagreeable news ; for 
"Ajaweed" in an Arab mouth corresponds the nearest pos- 
sible to our English " gentlemen." Now, if the gentlemen were 
thieves, what must the blackguards be % We put a good face 
on it, and then seated ourselves in dignified gravity on the sand 
awaiting the further results of our guide's negotiations. 

For some time we remained undisturbed, though not un- 
noticed; a group of Arabs had collected round our companions 
at the tent door, and were engaged in getting from them all 
possible information, especially about us and our baggage, 
which last was an object of much curiosity, not to say cupidity. 
Next came our turn. The chief, his family (women excepted), 
his intimate followers, and some twenty others, young and old, 
boys and men, came up, and after a brief salutation, Bedouin- 
wise, seated themselves in a semicircle before us. Every man 
held a short crooked stick for camel-driving in his hand, to 
gesticulate with when speaking, or to play with in the intervals 
of conversation, while the younger members of society, less 
prompt in discourse, politely employed their leisure in staring 
at us, or in picking up dried pellets of dirt from the sand and 
tossing them about. 

But how am I to describe their conversation, their questions 
and answers, their manners and gests? "A sensible person in 
this city is like a man tied up among a drove of mules in a 
stable," I once heard from a respectable stranger in the Syrian 
town of Horns, a locality proverbial for the sullen stupidity of 
its denizens. But among Bedouins in the desert, where the 
advantages of the stable are wanting, the guest rather resembles 
a man in the middle of a field among untied mules frisking and 
kicking their heels in all directions around him. Here you 
may see human nature at its lowest stage, or very nearly; one 
sprawls stretched out on the sand, another draws unmeaning 
lines with the end of his stick, a third grins, a fourth asks pur- 
portless or impertinent questions, or cuts jokes meant for witty, 



Chap, ij Mddn to the Djowf 17 

but in fact only coarse in the extreme. Meanwhile the boys 
thrust themselves forward without restraint, and interrupt their 
elders, their betters I can hardly say, without the smallest re- 
spect or deference. \ 

And yet in all this there is no real intention of rudeness, no\ 
desire to annoy; quite the reverse. They sincerely wish to\ 
make themselves agreeable to the new comers, to put them at \ 
their ease, nay, to do them what good service they can, only \ 
they do not exactly know how to set about it; if they violate 
all laws of decorum or courtesy, it is pyi of sheer ignorance, 
not malice prepense ; and amid the aimlessness of an utterly 
uncultivated mind they occasionally show indications of con- 
siderable innate tact and shrewdness; while through all the 
fickleness proper to men accustomed to no moral or physical 
restraint, there appears the groundwork of a manly and gener- 
ous character, such as a Persian, for instance, seldom offers. 
Their defects are inherent to their condition, their redeeming 
qualities are their own ; they have them by inheritance from 
one of the noblest races of earth ; from the Arabs of inhabited 
lands and organized governments. Indeed, after having tra- 
velled much and made pretty intimate acquaintance with many 
races, African, Asiatic, and European, I should hardly be in • 
clined to give the preference to any over the genuine unmixed 
clans of Central and Eastern Arabia. Now these last-mentioned 
populations are identical in blood and in tongue with the 
nomades of this desert, yet how immeasurably superior! The 
difference between a barbarous Highlander and an English 
gentleman, in " Rob Roy" or " Waverley," is hardly less striking. 
Let me subjoin a specimen of Bedouin conversation for my 
reader's better information. 

" What are you 1 what is your business % " so runs the ordinary 
and unprefaced opening of the discourse. To which we answer, 
" Physicians from Damascus, and our business is whatsoever 
God may put in our way." The next question will be about 
the baggage ; some one pokes it with a stick, to draw attention 
to it, and says, " What is this 1 ? have you any little object to 
sell us?" 

We fight shy of selling : to open out our wares and chattels 
in full air, on the sand, and amid a crowd whose appearance 
and circumstances offer but a poor guarantee for the exact ob- 



1 8 The Desert and its Inhabitants [Chap, i 

servance of the eighth commandment, would be hardly prudent 
or worth our while. After several fruitless trials they desist 
from their request. Another, who is troubled by some bodily 
infirmity, for which all the united faculties of London and 
Paris might prescribe in vain, a withered hand, for instance, 
or stone-blind of an eye, asks for medicine, which no sooner 
applied shall, in his expectation, suddenly restore him to per- 
fect health and corporal integrity. But I had been already 
forewarned that to doctor a Bedouin, even under the most 
favourable circumstances, or a camel, is pretty much the same 
thing, and with about an equal chance of success or advantage. 
I politely decline. He insists ; I turn him off with a joke. 

" So, you laugh at us, O you inhabitants of towns. We are 
Bedouins, we do not know your customs," replies he, in a 
whining tone; while the boys grin unconscionably at the dis- 
comfiture of their tribesman. 

"Ya woleyd," or " young fellow" (for so they style every 
human male from eight to eighty without distinction), " will 
you not fill my pipe % " says one, who has observed that mine 
was not idle, and who, though well provided with a good stock 
of dry tobacco tied up in a rag at his greasy waist-belt, thinks 
the moment a fair opportunity for a little begging, since neither 
medicine nor merchandize is to be had. 

But Salim, seated amid the circle, makes me a sign not 
to comply. Accordingly I evade the demand. However, my 
petitioner goes on begging, and is imitated by two or three 
others, each of whom thrusts forward, (a true Irish hint,) a bit 
of marrow-bone with a hole drilled in one side to act for a 
pipe, or a porous stone, not uncommon throughout the desert, 
clumsily fashioned into a smoking apparatus, a sort of primitive 
meerschaum. 

As they grow rude, I pretend to become angry, thus to cut 
the matter short. " We are your guests, O you Bedouins ; are 
you not ashamed to beg of us? " "Never mind, excuse us; 
those are ignorant fellows, ill-bred clowns, &c," interrjpses one 
close by the chiefs side ; and whose dress is in somewhat better 
condition than that of the other half and three-quarter naked 
individuals who complete the assembly. 

"Will you not people the pipe for your little brother?" 
subjoins the chief himself, producing an empty one with a 



) 



I 



Chap, i] Ma! an to the Djowf 19 

modest air. Bedouin language, like that of most Orientals, 
abounds with not ungraceful imagery, and accordingly " people " 
here means "fill." Salim gives me a wink of compliance; I 
take out a handful of tobacco, and put it on his long shirt- 
sleeve, which he knots over it, and looks uncommonly well 
pleased. At any rate they are easily satisfied, these Bedouins. 

In such conversation, and more of like tenor, the hour wears 
away. Some get up and depart, others take their places, all 
have their observations or enquiries to make ; and we have 
full opportunity of studying their character, propensities, and 
customs ; the more so as, because, ndt^guessing who we really 
are, they are off their guard. 

But the chieflet, after getting his supply of tobacco, the 
main object of his visit, were truth to be told, has retired to 
nis tent, there to give suitable orders for the coming entertain- 
ment. Shortly after we see a knot of idle individuals gathered 
together a little in the background ; this indicates the spot 
where a sheep or camel, according to circumstances, is being 
slaughtered for the evening's feast. A little after we see its 
carcase stretched out near the corner of the tent, to be cut up 
by several operators amid a crowd of spectators deeply inte- 
rested in the process, for the whole encampment is to share in 
the banquet prepared on occasion of the guests. 

We are now left awhile alone, for cooking is too important 
an affair to permit the absence of any unoccupied neighbours. 
In Europe too many cooks are said to have an injurious effect 
upon the broth, but here the process is far too simple for 
spoiling. To light a fire under a huge never- scoured cauldron, 
to set the water boiling, and then to throw in the quarters of 
the slaughtered animal to seethe in their own unskimmed grease, 
till about two-thirds cooked ; that is the whole culinary art and 
the neplus ultra of a Bedouin feast. ^ 

All this, however, takes some time ; fires lighted in the open 
air do not act so quickly as they would in a stove and kitchen, 
and large masses of meat cannot be speedily reduced to some- 
thing like an edible condition. Accordingly the stars are already 
in the sky, and the night breeze has cooled the sands, before an 
unusual bustle among the bystanders and a burst of sparks 
show that the cauldron has Deen at last removed off the stones 
which served it for fire-place. The water is then poured off, 

c 2 



20 The Desert and its Inhabitants [Chap, i 

the meat piled pell-mell into a large and very dirty wooden 
bowl, and thus, without any other accompaniment, seasoning, or 
aught else, placed on the ground about half-way between us 
and the tents. 

The chief, or some unbreeched youngster of his family, 
comes up to us with the customary " Tefaddaloq^' or " do us 
the favour," that is, of accepting the invitation. We approach 
the bowl, but ere we can take our place a rush has already been 
made from all quarters towards the common centre of attrac- 
tion, and a large circle is awaiting in silence the signal to begin. 
This is given by the chief, who again repeats the formula of 
welcome, and Salim and my comrade (for I confess myself to 
have been always rather backward on these occasions, not for 
want of hunger, but of liking,) fish out a large joint of half- 
raw meat, and pulling at it in opposite directions, divide it into 
more manageable morsels. Then every one falls to. Thirty or 
more unwashed hands are in the bowl, and within five minutes' 
space, bones too clean picked to offer much solace to the lean 
dogs on guard around are all that remains of the banquet. 

Ci Why do you not eat ? eat ; go to work at it ; O, a hundred 
welcomes to you, our worthy guests," reiterates at short inter- 
vals our host, and shows the way by his own good example. I 
may remark, that were the sultan himself in our place, he would 
get no greater variety or choicer fare, for the simple reason that 
the Sherarat have nothing better to present. 

Water, with a strong ammoniacal flavour, acquired from the 
' over-proximity of camels to the wells whence it has been drawn, 
is now passed round to whoever desires drink in a sort of small 
pail, which might in England find its appropriate place at a 
colt's muzzle. However, while we partake of its contents, our 
next-hand neighbour will not fail to say " Hena'," or "good 
health," by way of a compliment, and a hint too to pass him 
the bowl. 

We then retire to our sand slope and baggage ; for to sleep 
within the host's tent is not customary in genuine Bedouin life. 
The smallness of the habitation where a family of all sexes and 
ages are crowded together, and its non-partition into separate 
chambers, fully explains and justifies this precautionary usage, 
which has nothing to do with want of hospitality. 

The night air in these wilds is life and health itself. We 



Chap, i] Mdan to the Djowf 2 I 

sleep soundly, unharassed by the anticipation of an early sum- 
mons to march next morning, for both men and beasts have alike 
need of a full day's repose. When the sun has risen we are 
invited to enter *the chiefs tent and to bring our baggage under 
its shelter. A main object of our entertainer's, in proposing 
this move, is to try whether he cannot render our visit some way 
profitable to himself, by present or purchase. Whatever polite- 
ness he can muster is accordingly brought into play, and a large 
bowl of fresh camel's milk, an ex cellent b everage, now appears i "*y£^ 
on the stage. I leave to chemical analysts to decide why this | / 
milk will not furnish butter, for such is the fact, and content 
myself with bearing witness to its very nutritious and agreeable^ 
qualities. 

r e then, at the earnest request of the chief, his wife, sisters, 
and cousins, and for their sole and private inspection, open a 
corner of our sacks, and after much haggling sell a piece of 
cloth, a head-dress, or some similar object. The difficulty lies 
in the paying ; for not only our friend is by no means over- 
ready to part with his cash, but he is moreover quite ignorant 
respecting the specific value of its component pieces. Ac- 
cordingly a council of the wisest heads in the tribe has to be 
called to decide on the value of each separate coin, and, after 
that, to sum-totalize, which is, for Bedouins, a yet more Her- 
culean effort of intellect, and the account must be cast up item 
by item full a dozen times before he knows whether he had 
twenty or thirty piastres in his dirty hand. 

The day passes on. About noon our host naturally enough 
supposes us hungry, and accordingly a new dish is brought in; 
it looks much like a bowl full of coarse red jpaste, or bran mixed 
J with ochre. ■ This i^jjyjjjjr-a main article of subsistence to the 
\ Bedouins of Northern Arabia. Throughout this part of the 
desert grows a small herbaceous and tufted plant, with juicy 
stalks and a little ovate yellow-tinted leaf; the flowers are of a 1 
brighter yellow, with many stamens and pistils. When the ; 
blossoms fall off, there remains in place of each a four-leaved 
capsule about the size of an ordinary pea, and this, when ripe, 
opens to show a mass of minute reddisli. seeds, resembling j 
grit in feel and appearance, but farinaceous in substance. The j 
ripening seaspn is in July, when old and young, men and women, 
all are out to collect the unsown and untoiled-for harvest. The 




I 



22 The Desert and its Inhabitants [Char i 

I capsules are gathered, the seed separated from them, and kept 

Vlike a stock of flour for the ensuing year. These seeds, when 

wanted for use, are coarsely ground in a hand mill, then mixed 

with water, and boiled into the substance which we now had 

before us. Its taste and quality were pretty well hit off by 

\ Salim, who described it, "not so good as wheat, and rather 

f better than barley-meal." 

Another gift of nature is the Mesa% a fruit well known to 
Bedouins, though neglected by all else. Its shrub attains two 
or three feet in height, woody and tangled, with small and 
pointed leaves of a lively green, and a little red star-like flower. 
This in June gives place to a berry much resembling in size, 
colour, and taste our own red currant, though inferior to it in 
{ flavour, while its sweetness predominates too much over its 
[ acidity. The Bedouins collect and greedily devour it, or, 
boiling it down with a little water, procure a sort of molasses, 
much esteemed by them, but by them alone. This,, with the 
Samh just mentioned, camel's milk, and an occasional repast of 
butcher's meat, though that is a rare luxury, forms all their list 
of eatables. 

No one throughout the entire Sherarat tribe can boast a 
coffee-pot or coffee. Such articles are indeed common among 
the Syro-Arab Bedouins, enriched by the possession of sheep 
and horses and the neighbourhood of towns, not to mention 
frequent acquisitions of plunder from peasants or travellers. 
But here, in Arabia Proper, sheep are the almost exclusive pro- 
perty of townsmen and villagers, and they are strong enough 
to keep their own, while vigorous governments have for years 
pressed on the Bedouins with a rod of iron, and reduced 
them to their normal condition, that of mere camel-drivers, 
and nothing more. But if they are somewhat the losers under 
such a system, the land is much a gainer ; and I think most 
of my readers will easily admit that wealth and security for 
peasants and merchants may well outweigh the advantages of 
t nomade licence and the insolent lawlessness of the clans of 
\ the Syrian desert — only desert because in the possession of 
Bedouins. 

The military strength of this tribe, as may be gathered from 
what I have already said concerning them, is small, too scat- 
tered for collective action, and too poor to provide themselves 



Chap, i] Mdan to the Djowf 23 

with effective arms. What weapons they have consist of clumsy 
matchlocks and rusty spears. 

Their feuds are continual, but at little cost of life ; the main 
object of a raid is booty, not slaughter ; and the Bedouin, 
though a terrible braggart, has at heart little inclination for 
killing or being killed. They will relate for hours together 
raw-head and bloody-bones stories of their wars and combats 
with this or that tribe, and give in a gazette worthy of Waterloo, 
till when you come to examine coolly into the number of the 
victims, thus dashingly designated by "thousands," your hu- 
manity will be consoled by finding them reduced to the more 
moderate numbers of "two" or "three," and even these you 
must not set down at once for dead, as they were probably only 
" slightly wounded," and will reappear alive and well in next 
day's report 

One cause of this great sparing of human life is the absence 
of those national and religious principles which so often in 
other countries, and even more in Asia than in Europe, urge 
on men to bloodshed. The Bedouin does not fight for his 
home, he has none ; nor for his country, that is anywhere ; nor 
for his honour, he never heard of it ; nor for his religion, he 
owns and cares for none. His only object in war is the tem-| 
porary occupation of some bit of miserable pasture-land or ( 
the use of a brackish well ; perhaps^the desire to get such a I 
one's horse or camel into his own possession — all objects/ 
which imply little animosity, and, if not attained in the cam-Lj 
paign, can easily be made up for in other ways, nor entail the / 
bitterness and cruelty that attend or follow civil and religious / 
strife. 

Further on, indeed, in Central Arabia, there exist tribes of 
much greater wealth, strength, and organization ; such are the 
Shomer, south of Djowf, the Meteyr and 'Qteybah in the mid- 
lands, the Ajman and Benoo-Khalid to the east. But all these 
taken together are very few in number when compared to the 
fixed population, a sixth or seventh at best, judging from the 
muster-rolls of the different Arab provinces, and only appear in 
war time under the character of auxiliaries to the one or other 
faction among the townsmen, not as independent or hostile 
troops. The Wahhabee government has, blow after blow, 
" broken their thorn," to use a significant Arab phrase ; and 



24 The Desert and its Inhabitants [Chap, i 

though all are not equally poor or barbarous in their customs 
with the Sherarat, they are even more submissive to the ruling 
power, nor dare stir save at its bidding. 

A day's rest put us in condition to resume our way next 
morning amid shrubs and sand-hills down the valley that winds 
between its stony banks like a broad shallow river to the south. 
We fell in with many Bedouins of course, and passed several 
large encampments, sometimes halting in them for a meal, and 
sometimes not, besides some occasional sale of trifling value to 
keep up our mercantile character. No particular adventure 
here occurred worth recording, though our journey was far 
from dull, thanks to much amusement in laughing, now with, 
now at, our companions or hosts. They on their side enter- 
tained us with long stories of wandering life and adventures of 
stray or stolen camels, of swaggering war heroes, and lovers full 
as adventurous as any Romeo but somewhat less delicate ; of 
divorces without the Act, and alliances in which the turning 
point and main object seemed to be the supper of boiled 
mutton, that ne plus ultra of Bedouin cookery and desire. 

" What will you do on coming into God's presence for judg- 
ment after so graceless a life % " said I one day to a spirited 
young Sherarat, whose long matted lovelocks, and some pre- 
tension to dandihood, for the desert has its dandies too, amid 
all his ragged accoutrements, accorded very well with his con- 
versation, which was nowise of the most edifying description. 
" What will we do % " was his unhesitating answer, " why, we 
will go up to God and salute him, and if he proves hospitable 
(gives us meat and tobacco), we will stay with him ; if other- 
wise, we will mount our horses and ride off." This is a fair 
specimen of Bedouin ideas touching another world, and were I 
not afraid of an indictment for profaneness, I might relate fifty 
similar anecdotes at least. 

On the 27th of the month we passed with some difficulty 
a series of abrupt sand-hills that close in the direct course of 
Wadi Sirhan. Here, for the first time, we saw the Ghada, a 
shrub almost characteristic, from its very frequency, of "the 
Arabian Peninsula, and often alluded to by its poets. It is of 
the genus Euphorbia, with a woody stem, often five or six feet 
in height, and innumerable round green twigs, very slender and 
flexible, forming a large feathery tuft, not ungraceful to the eye, 







chap, i] Md an to the Djowf 25 

while it affords some kind of shelter to the traveller and food 
to his camels. These last are passionately fond of Qhada, and 
will continually turn right out of their way, in spite of blows 
and kicks, to crop a mouthful of it, and then swing back their 
long necks into the former direction, ready to repeat the same 
manoeuvre at the next bush as though they had never received 
a beating for their past voracity. 

I have, while in England, heard and read more than once of 
; the " docile camel." If " docile" means stupid, well and good; 
in such a case the camel is the very model of docility. But if 
the epithet is intended to designate an^animal that takes an 
\ interest in its rider so far as a beast can, that in some way 
< understands his intentions or shares them in a subordinate 
fashion, that obeys from a sort of submissive or half fellow- 
feeling with his master, like the horse and elephant, then I say 
that the camel is by no means docile, very much the contrary ; 
he takes no heed of his rider, pays no attention whether he be 
on his back or not, walks straight on when once set a going, 
merely because he is too stupid to turn aside; and then, should 
some tempting thorn or green branch allure him out of the 
path, continues to walk on in this new direction simply because 
he is too dull to turn back into the right road. His only care 1 
is to cross as much pasture as he conveniently can while pacing | 
mechanically onwards ; and for effecting this his long flexible I 
neck sets him at great advantage, and a hard blow or a down- f 
right kick alone has any influence on him whether to direct or f 
impel. He will never attempt to throw you off his back, such | 
a trick being far beyond his limited comprehension ; but if you f 
fall off, he will never dream of stopping for you, and walks on 
just the same, grazing while he goes, without knowing or caring 
an atom what has become of you. If turned loose, it is a thou- 
sand to one that he will never find his way back to his accus- | 
tomed home or pasture, and the first comer who picks him up will 
have no particular shyness to get over ; Jack or Tom are all 
the same to him, and the loss of his old master and of his own 
kith and kin gives him no regret and occasions no endeavour 
to find them again. One only symptom will he give that he is 
aware of his rider, and that is when the latter is about to mount 
him, for on such an occasion, instead of addressing him in the 
style of Balaam's more intelligent beast, " Am not I thy camel 



% . 






I 



26 The Desert and its Inhabitants [Chap, i 

upon which thou hast ridden ever since I was thine, unto this 
day?" he will bend back his long snaky neck towards his master, 
open his enormous jaws to bite if he dared, and roar out a 
tremendous sort of groan, as if to complain of some entirely 
new and unparalleled injustice about to be done him. In a 
word, he is from first to last an undomesticated and savage 
animal, rendered serviceable by stupidity alone, without much 
skill on his master's part or any co-operation on his own, save 
that of an extreme passiveness. Neither attachment nor even 
habit impress him ; never tame, though not wide awake enough 
to be exactly wild. 

One passion alone he possesses, namely revenge, of which he 
furnishes many a hideous example, while in carrying it out he 
shows an unexpected degree of far-thoughted malice, united 
meanwhile with all the cold stupidity of his usual character. One 
instance of this I well remember ; it occurred hard by a small 
town in the plain of Ba'albec, where I was at the time residing. 
A lad of about fourteen had conducted a large camel, laden 
with wood, from that very village to another at half an hour's 
distance or so. As the animal loitered or turned out of the 
way, its conductor struck it repeatedly, and harder than it 
seems to have thought he had a right to do. But not finding 
the occasion favourable for taking immediate quits, it " bode its 
time ;" nor was that; time long in coming. A few days later 
the same lad had to reconduct the beast, but unladen, to his 
own village. When they were about half-way on the road, and 
at some distance from any habitation, the camel suddenly 
stopped, looked deliberately round in every direction to assure 
itself that no one was within sight, and, finding the road far and 
near clear of passers-by, made a step forward, seized the un- 
lucky boy's head in its monstrous mouth, and lifting him up in 
the air flung him down again on the earth with the upper part 
of his skull completely torn off, and his brains scattered on the 
ground. Haying thus satisfied its revenge, the brute quietly 
resumed its pace towards the village as though nothing were 
the matter, till some men who had observed the whole, though 
unfortunately at too great a distance to be able to afford timely 
help, came up and killed it^But let us now drive our camels 
past the Ghada bushes, where riders and ridden have been alike 
diverging, and resume our onward way. 



Chap, i] Mdan to the Djowf 27 



After passing the sand-hills lately mentioned, we left the 
direct line of the valley, and entered on a new scene. The 
country was still open and desert, but much modified in aspect 
from the black uplands that had preceded Wadi Sirhan. The 
plain, though strewn with gravel, was of a yellowish hue, nor 
was its surface so absolutely and hopelessly barren ; while on 
the left a long range of abrupt hills, the Djebal-el-Djowf, or 
"mountains of Djowf," extended far into the distance. Our 
course lay in a kind of groove, a side embranchment of Sirhan, 
and leading almost due south. A little after noon we eame 
upon a la,rge hollow, where, amid two huiidfed Sherarat tents at 
the least, (myself and my companion counted them till we grew I 
tired,) lay the waters of Magooa', a collection of deep and 
perennial wells, whose water would not be altogether bad, were j 
dirt and camels kept & little further from the rim. 

Here we were obliged to pass the rest of that day and the 
following also. For Salim, who could not enter the Djowf 
along with us in person, on account of a murder there com- 
mitted by him at a previous date, was here compelled to stop 
and look out for us a companion capable of conducting us safe 
within the limits of that territory, and who once there might 
receive from us a written attestation of our having duTyreaehed 
our journey's end. This paper, duly signed and sealed, was to be 
delivered to~Salim, who. without it could not receive his stipu- 
lated hire, which at the outset of the journey had been deposited 
in the hands of a worthy town-magistrate of Ma'an, Ibraheem 
by name. From him our Howeytat guide was to receive his 
guerdon on presenting, by way of letter of credit, the docu- 
ment just alluded to, in which we were to declare that we had 
arrived in due form and comfort at our journey's end, without 
having had any subject of complaint or dissatisfaction with our 
escort. 

After much search and many proffers canvassed and rejected, 
Salim ended by finding a good-natured but somewhat timid 
individual, Suleyman-el-'Azzamee, who undertook our guidance 
to the Djowf. Meanwhile the Bedouins, desirous to secure 
from us a favourable report of their conduct on our coming 
before the governor of that district, treated us fairly well ; 
meat and milk, dates and samh, came before us in succession, 
and we passed . our day not uncomfortably on the whole, 



28 The Desert and its Inhabitants [Chap, i 

chatting in the tents, or strolling about the sand-hills round the 
hollow, in spite of the overpowering heat, enough to have made 
a Bengalee complain, and a Madrassee pronounce it utterly- 
intolerable. 

Early on the 29th of the month we were again on our way. 
Before us lay an upland and barren tract, opening out to the 
north. Here we sighted a large troop of ostriches ; no bird on 
earth is more timid or more difficult of approach. When we 
saw them far ahead running in a long line one after the other 
as though their very lives depended on it, we almost took them 
for a string of scared camels. The Sherarat hunt them, as 
their plumage is eagerly bought up on the frontiers to be re- 
sold in Egypt or Syria, whence it often passes on to Europe. 

No water is to be found in this steppe. We journeyed on all 
the long summer day, and only halted for an hour at sunset to 
prepare a cinder-seasoned meal; then remounted, and passed 
close under the south-eastern spur of Djebal-el-Djowf, till after 
midnight a short halt afforded us a little rest and sleep. 

Mine was, however, somewhat disturbed by a scorpion bite : 
not so serious an accident, indeed, as it sounds, considering the 
genus of the aggressor, but painful enough, though soon passing 
off. These desert scorpions are curious little creatures, about a 
fourth of an inch in length, and, apparently, all claws and tail, 
of a deep reddish brown colour, and very active. They abound 
throughout the sandy soil. In the daytime they wisely keep 
out of the way, but at night come out to take the cooler air. 
Their sting is exactly like the smart of a white-hot iron point 
firmly pressed on the skin, and when I felt my forehead thus 
assaulted, I jumped up exceedingly quick, anticipating twenty- 
four hours of suffering, the usual period allotted, at least in 
popular credence, to the duration of scorpion torture; but I was 
agreeably disappointed, for the pain did not last above anhour, 
was accompanied by little swelling, and then went entirely "off, 
hardly leaving any perceptible mark. 

We remounted by the light of the morning star, anxious to 
enter the Djowf before the intense heat of noon should come 
on ; but we had yet a long way to go, and our track followed 
endless windings among low hills and stony ledges, without 
any symptom of approach to cultivated regions. At last the 
slopes grew greener, and a small knot of houses with traces of 



chap, ij Md an to the Djowf 29 

tillage close by appeared. It was the little village of Djoon, 
the most westerly appendage of Djowf itself. I counted between 
twenty and thirty houses. We next entered a long and narrow 
pass, whose precipitous banks shut in the view on either side. 
Suddenly several horsemen appeared on the opposite cliff; and 
one of them, a handsome youth, with long curling hair, well 
armed and well mounted (we shall make his more special 
acquaintance in the next chapter), called out to our guide to 
halt, and answer in his own behalf and ours. This Suleyman 
did, not without those marks of timidity in his voice and 
gesture which a Bedouin seldom fails to snow on his approach 
to a town, for when once in it he is apt to sneak about much like 
a dog who has just received a beating for theft. On his answer, 
delivered in a most submissive tone, the horsemen held a brief 
consultation, and we then saw two of them turn their horses' 
heads, and gallop off in the direction of the Djowf, while our 
original interlocutor called out to Suleyman, "All right, go on, 
and fear nothing," and then disappeared after the rest of the 
band behind the verge of the upland. 

We had yet to drag on for an hour of tedious march ; my 
camel fairly broke down, and fell again and again; his bad 
example was followed by the coffee-laden beast ; the heat was 
terrible in these gorges, and noon was approaching. At last we 
cleared the pass, but found the onward prospect still shut out 
by an intervening mass of rocks. The water in our skins was 
spent, and we had eaten nothing that morning. When shall 
we get in sight of the Djowf? or has it flown away from before 
us? While thus wearily labouring on our way, we turned a / 
huge pile of crags, and a new and beautiful scene burst upon 
our view. i 

But that view, and what followed on this our first transition 
from desert to inhabited Arabia, deserves a separate chapter. J 






30 



CHAPTER H 
The Djowf 

Thus far into the bowels of the land 
Have we marched on without impediment. 

Shakespeare 

Vitw of Djowf from the North — Meeting of Ghafil and Dafee — GhafiPs 
House; the Ifhawah — Formalities of Society — Coffee making — Dates — 
Genei'al Description of the Djowf— Its Houses, War-Towers, Gardens, and 
Palm-groves — Climate — Population — Other Villages — Character of the In- 
habitants — Commerce and Progress — Our New lodgings — Daily Life — A 
Djowf Stepper — Accusation brought against us — Visit to the Castle — Its 
Architecture — Tower of Marid—Ifamood; his IChawah, his Shomer 
Rainue — Administration of Justice — Mosque — Society in Djowf — Arrival 
of the 'Azzam Deputation ; we agree to accompany them to HcPyel — Our 
New Guide — Departure from Djowf— Route Southwards — Bier Shekeek. 

A broad deep valley, descending ledge after ledge till its inner- 
most depths are hidden from sight amid far-reaching shelves of 
reddish rock, below everywhere studded with tufts of palm- 
groves and clustering fruit-trees in dark green patches down to 
the furthest end of its windings ; a large brown mass of irregu- 
lar masonry crowning a central hill; beyond a tall and solitary 
tower overlooking the opposite bank of the hollow, and further 
down small round turrets and flat house-tops half buried amid 
the garden foliage, the whole plunged in a perpendicular flood 
of light and heat; such was the first aspect of the Djowf as we 
now approached it from the west. It was a lovely scene, and 
seemed yet more so to our eyes weary of the long desolation 
through which we had with hardly an exception journeyed day 
after day since our last farewell glimpse of Gaza and Palestine 
up to the first entrance on inhabited Arabia. " Like the Para- 
dise of eternity, none can enter it till after having previously 



Chap. II] The Djowf 3 1 

passed over hell-bridge," says an Arab poet, describing some 
similar locality in Algerian lands. 

Reanimated by the view, we pushed on our. jaded beasts, and 
were already descending the first craggy slope of the valley, 
when two horsemen, well dressed and fully armed after the 
fashion of these parts, came up toward us from the town, and 
at once saluted us with a loud and hearty "Marhaba," or 
"welcome ;" and without further preface they added, "alight and 
eat," giving themselves the example of the former by descending 
briskly from their light-limbed horses, and untying a large lea- 
ther bag full of excellent dates, and a w^ter-skin, filled from 
the running spring; then spreading out these most opportune 
refreshments on the rock, and adding, "we were sure that you 
must be hungry and thirsty, so we have come ready provided," 
they invited us once m6re to sit down and begin. 

Hungry and thirsty we indeed were; the dates were those of 
Djowf, the choicest in their kind to be met with in northern 
Arabia, the water was freshly drawn, cool and clear, no slight / 
recommendations after the ammoniacal wells of Magooa' and 
Oweysit, so that altogether we thought it unnecessary to make 
our new friends repeat their invitation, and without delay set 
ourselves to enjoy the present good, leaving the future with all 
its cares to Providence and the course of events. Meanwhile I 
took the occasion of studying more minutely the outward man 
of our benefactors. 

The elder of the cavaliers was a man apparently of about 
forty years of age, tall, well-made, dark-complexioned, and with 
a look that inspired some mistrust, while it denoted some intel- 
ligence and more habitual haughtiness. He was handsomely 
dressed for an Arab, wearing a red cloth vest with large hanging 
sleeves over his long white shirt, with a silk handkerchief, 
striped red and yellow, on his head, and a silver-hilted sword 
at his side. In short, all about him denoted a person of a cer- 
tain wealth and importance. This was Ghafil-el-IJaboob, the 
chief of the most important and the most turbulent family of 
the iDjowf, Beyt-IJaboob, who were not long since the rulers of 
the town, but are now, like all the rest of their countrymen, 
humble subjects to Hamood, vicegerent of Telal, the prince of 
Djebel Shomer. 

His companion, £>afee by name, seemed younger in years 



32 The Djowf [Chap, ii 

and slenderer of make; he was less richly dressed, though 
carrying, like Ghafil, the silver-hilted sword common in Arabia 
to all men of good birth and circumstances ; his family name 
was also Haboob, but his features bespoke a much milder and 
opener character than that of the chief, his cousin at the fourth 
or fifth remove. 

After taking our meal, we remained awhile where we were 
in question and answer. Having been previously informed that 
the governor Hamood resided in the town itself, we suggested 
to Ghafil whether it might not be suitable for us to pay that 
important personage the compliment of a first visit at our very 
entrance. But the chief had several reasons, which my readers 
will afterwards learn, for not desiring our so doing. Accordingly 
he answered that we were his personal guests, and that he him- 
self had in consequence the right to our first reception ; that as 
for Hamood, we should visit him a little later, and in his own 
company ; that it would be time enough for such ceremonies 
after a day or two, and that in the meanwhile he was himself a 
sufficient guarantee of the governor's good will. 

But on this Pafee put in his claim to be our host, saying that 
his house was the nearer at hand ; that he also had come in 
person to meet us ; and that in consequence he had as good a 
right as Ghafil to have us for his guests. However, he was in 
his turn obliged to yield to the superior authority of his kins- 
man. We then all rode on slowly together, and when we were 
on the point of reaching the lower level of the valley, and had 
already begun to enter amid the deep shadows of the palm- 
groves, Dafee tendered his apologies for letting us thus pass by 
his abode without partaking its hospitality ; and having added 
an invitation for the nearest day, he turned aside between the 
high garden walls. But on parting he gave a look of much 
meaning, first at Ghafil, and then at us, the import of which we 
did not as yet fully understand. 

Meanwhile we passed on in the company of our new host 
who continued all the way his welcomes and protestations of 
readiness to render us every imaginable service, and leaving a 
little on our right the castle hill and tower, threaded between 
grove after grove, and garden after garden, till a high gateway 
gave us admittance to a cluster of houses around an open space, 
where seats of beaten earth and stone bordering the walls here 



Chap. II] 



The Djowf 



33 



and there formed a sort of Arab antechamber or waiting-room 
for visitors not yet received within the interior precincts, and 
thus bespoke the importance of the neighbouring house, and 
consequently of its owner. 

Here Ghafil halted before a portal high enough to admit a 
camel and rider, and, while we modestly dismounted to await 
further orders, entered alone the dwelling to see if all had been 
duly got ready for our reception, and then quickly returned, 
and invited us to follow him indoors. 

We traversed a second entrance, and npy found ourselves in 
a small courtyard, three sides of which were formed by different 
apartments; the fourth consisted of a stable for horses and 
camels. In front rose a high wall, with several small windows 
pierced in it (no glass, of course, in this warm climate) close 
under the roof, and one large door in the centre. This belonged 
to the ]<L'hawah, or G'hawah, as they here call it, that is, the 
coffee-room, or reception-room, if you will ; inasmuch as ladies 
never honour its precincts, I cannot suitably dignify it with the 
title of drawing-room. The description of one such apartment 
may suffice, with little variation, for all the l£'hawahs of Arabia ; 
it is an indispensable feature in every decent house throughout 
the Peninsula from end to end, and offers everywhere very 
little variation, save that of larger or smaller, better or worse 
furnished, according to the circumstances of its owner. For 
this reason I shall now permit myself some minuteness of 
detail in Ghafil' s mansion ; it may stand sample for thousands 
of others. 

The K'hawah was a large oblong hall, about twenty feet in 
height, fifty in length, and sixteen, or thereabouts, in breadth ; 
the walls were coloured in a rudely decorative manner with 
brown and white wash, and sunk here and there into small 
triangular recesses, destined to the reception of books, though 
of these Ghafil at least had no over-abundance, lamps, and 
other such like objects. The roof of timber, and flat; the floor 
was .strewed with fine clean sand, and garnished all round 
alongside of the walls with long strips of carpet, upon which 
cushions, covered with faded silk, were disposed at suitable 
intervals. In poorer houses felt rugs usually take the place 
of carpets. In one corner, namely, that furthest removed from 
the door, stood a small fireplace, or, to speak more exactly, 

D 



34 



The Djowf 



[Chap. II 




db3 



furnace, formed of a large square block of granite, or some 
other hard stone, about twenty inches each way; this is hol- 
lowed inwardly into a deep funnel, open above, and com- 
municating below with a small horizontal tube or pipe-hole, 
through which the air passes, bellows-driven, to the lighted 
charcoal piled up on a grating about half-way inside the cone. 
In this manner the fuel is soon brought to a white heat, and 
the water in the coffee-pot placed upon the funnel's mouth 
is readily brought to boil. The system of coffee furnaces is 
universal in Djowf and Djebel Shomer, but in Nejed itself, 
and indeed in whatever other yet more distant regions of 
Arabia I visited to the south and east, the furnace is replaced 
by an open fireplace hollowed in the ground floor, with a 
raised stone border, and dog-irons for the fuel, and so forth, 
like what may be yet seen in Spain. This diversity of arrange- 
ment, so far as Arabia is concerned, is due to the greater 
abundance of fire-wood in the south, whereby the inhabitants 
are enabled to light up on a larger scale; whereas throughout 
the Djowf and Djebel Shomer wood is very scarce, and the 
only fuel at hand is bad charcoal, often brought from a con- 
siderable distance, and carefully husbanded. 

This corner of the K'hawah is also the place of distinction, 
whence honour and coffee radiate by progressive degrees round 
the apartment, and hereabouts accordingly sits the master of 
the house himself, or the guests whom he more especially 
delighteth to honour. 

On the broad edge of the furnace or fireplace, as the case 
may be, stands an ostentatious range of copper coffee-pots, 
varying in size and form. Here in the Djowf their make re- 
sembles that in vogue at Damascus; but in Nejed and the 
eastern districts they are of a different and much more orna- 
mental fashioning, very tall and slender, with several ornamental 
circles and mouldings in elegant relief, besides boasting long 
beak-shaped spouts and high steeples for covers. The number 
of these utensils is often extravagantly great. I have seen a 
dozen at a time in a row by one fireside, though coffee-making 
requires, in fact, only three at most. Here in the Djowf five or 
six are considered to be the thing; for the south this number 
must be doubled ; all this to indicate the riches and munificence 
of their owner, by implying the frequency of his guests and the 



chap, ii] The Djowf 35 

large amount of coffee that he is in consequence obliged to have 
made for them. 

Behind this stove sits, at least in wealthy houses, a black 
slave, whose name is generally a diminutive, in token of fami- 
liarity or affection ; in the present case it was Soweylim, the 
diminutive of Salim. His occupation is to make and pour 
out the coffee ; where there is no slave in the family, the 
master of the premises himself, or perhaps one of his sons, 
performs that hospitable duty; rather a tedious one, as we 

shall soon see. 

— / 

We enter. On passing the threshold it is proper to say, 
" Bismillah," i.e., " in the name of God ;" not to do so would be 
lookecTon as a bad augury alike for him who enters and for 
those within. The visitor next advances in silence, till on 
coming about half-way across the room, he gives to all present, 
but looking specially at the master of the house, the customary 
" Es-salamu 'aleykum," or " Peace be with you," literally, " on you." 
All this while every one else in the room has kept his place, 
motionless, and without saying a word. But on receiving the 
salaam of etiquette, the master of the house rises, and if a strict 
Wahhabee, or at any rate desirous of seeming such, replies 
with the full-length traditionary formula, "W 'aleykumu-s- 
salamu, w'rahmat' Ullahi w'barakdtuh," which is, as every one 
knows, " And with . (or, on) you be peace, and the mercy of 
God, and his blessings." But should he happen to be of anti- 
Wahhabee tendencies, the odds are that he will say "Marhaba," 
or "Ahlan w' sahlan," i.e., " welcome," or " worthy, and plea- 
surable," or the like ; for of such phrases there is an infinite, 
but elegant variety. All present follow the example thus given 
by rising and saluting. The guest then goes up to the master^ 
of the house, who has also made a step or two forwards, and 
places his open hand in the palm of his host's, but without 
grasping or shaking, which would hardly pass for decorous, and 
at the same time each repeats once more his greeting, followed 
by the set phrases of polite enquiry, " How are you V " How 
goes the world with you?" and so forth, all in a tone of great 
interest, and to be gone over three or four times, till one or 
other has the discretion to say " El hamdu Tillah," " Praise be 
to God," or, in equivalent value, " all right," and this is a signal 
for a seasonable diversion to the ceremonious interrogatory. 

D 2 




36 The Djowf [Chap, ii 

The guest then, after a little contest of courtesy, takes his 
seat in the honoured post by the fireplace, after an apologetical 
salutation to the black slave on the one side, and to his nearest 
neighbour on the other. The best cushions and newest-looking 
carpets have been of course prepared for his honoured weight. 
Shoes or sandals, for in truth the latter alone are used in Arabia, 
are slipped off on the sand just before reaching the carpet, and 
there they remain on the floor close by. But the riding stick\ 
or wand, the inseparable companion of every true Arab, whether i 
Bedouin or townsman, rich or poor, gentle or simple, is to be \ 
retained in the hand, and will serve for playing with during the 
pauses of conversation, like the fan of our great-grandmothers 
in their days of conquest. 

Without delay Soweylim begins his preparations for coffee. 
These open by about five minutes of blowing with the bellows and 
arranging the charcoal till a sufficient heat has been produced. 
Next he places the largest of the coffee-pots, a huge machine, 
and about two-thirds full of clear water, close by the edge of 
the glowing coal-pit, that its contents may become gradually 
warm while other operations are in progress. He then takes a 
dirty knotted rag out of a niche in the wall close by, and having 
untied it, empties out of it three or four handfuls of unroasted 
coffee, the which he places on a little trencher of platted grass, 
and picks carefully out any blackened grains, or other non- 
homologous substances, commonly to be found intermixed with 
the berries when purchased in gross ; then, after much cleansing 
and shaking, he pours the grain so cleansed into a large open 
iron ladle, and places it over the mouth of the funnel, at the 
\ same time blowing the bellows and stirring the grains gently 
round and round till they crackle, redden, and smoke a little, 
but carefully withdrawing them from the heat long before they 
turn black or charred, after the erroneous fashion of Turkey and 
Europe ; after which he puts them to cool a moment on the 
grass platter. He then sets the warm water in the large coffee- 
pot over the fire aperture, that it may be ready boiling at the 
right moment, and draws in close between his own trouserless 
legs a large stone mortar, with a narrow pit in the middle, just 
enough to admit the black stone pestle of a foot long and an 
inch and half thick, which he now takes in hand. Next, pour- 
ing the half-roasted berries into the mortar, he proceeds to 



Chap. II] 



The Djowf 37 



pound them, striking right into the narrow hollow with won- 
derful dexterity, nor ever missing his blow till the beans are' 
smashed, but not reduced into powder. He then scoops them 
out, now reduced to a sort of coarse reddish grit, very unlike 
the fine charcoal dust which passes in some countries for coffee, 
and out of which every particle of real aroma has long since been 
burnt or ground. After all these operations, each performe 
with as intense a seriousness and deliberate nicety as if th 
welfare of the entire Djowf depended onit, he takes a smaller 
coffee-pot in hand, fills it more than dhalf with hot water from 
the larger vessel, and then shaking the pounded coffee into it, 
sets it on the fire to boil, occasionally stirring it with a small 
stick as the water rises to check the ebullition and prevent 
overflowing. Nor is the boiling stage to be long or vehement ; 
on the contrary, it is and should be as light as possible. In 
the interim he takes out of another rag-knot a few axojnatic_ 
seeds called heyl, an Indian product, but of whose scientific 
name I regref Tcfbe wholly ignorant, or a little saffron, and after 
slightly pounding these ingredients, throws them into the sim- 
mering coffee to improve its flavour, for such an additional 
spicing is held indispensable in Arabia, though often omitted 
elsewhere in the East. Sugar would be a totally unheard-of 
profanation. Last of all, he strains off the liquor through some 
fibres of the inner palm-bark placed for that purpose in the 
jug-spout, and gets ready the tray of delicate parti-coloured 
grass, and the small coffee cups ready for pouring out. Ail 
these preliminaries have taken up a good half-hour. 

Meantime we have become engaged in active conversation 
with our host and his friends. But our Sherarat guide, Suley- 
man, like a true Bedouin, feels too awkward when among towns- 
folk to venture on the upper places, though, repeatedly invited, 
and accordingly has squatted down on the sand near the 
entrance. Many of GhafiTs relations are present ; their silver- 
decorated swords proclaim the importance of the family. Others, 
too, have come to receive us, for our arrival, announced before- 
hand by those we had met at the entrance pass, is a sort of 
event in the town; the dress of some betokens poverty, others 
are better clad, but all have a very polite and decorous manner. 
Many a question is asked about our native land and town, that 
is to say, Syria and Damascus, conformably to the disguise 






38 The Djowf [Chap. II 

already adopted, and which it was highly important to keep 
well up; then follow enquiries regarding our journey, our 
business, what we have brought with us, about our medicines, 
our goods and wares, &c. &c. From the very first it is easy 
for us to perceive that patients and purchasers are likely to 
abound. Very few travelling merchants, if any, visit the Djowf 
at this time of year, for one must be mad, or next door to it, 
to rush into the vast desert around during the heats of June 
and July; I for one have certainly no intention of doing it 
again. Hence we had small danger of competitors, and found 
the market almost at our absolute disposal. 

But before a quarter of an hour has passed, and while blacky 
is still roasting or pounding his coffee, a tall thin lad, Ghanl's 
eldest son, appears, charged with a large circular dish, grass- 
platted like the rest, and throws it with a graceful jerk on the 
sandy floor close before us. He then produces a large wooden 
bowl full of dates, bearing in the midst of the heap a cup full 
of melted butter ; all this he places on the circular mat, and 
j says, "Semmoo," literally, "pronounce the Name," of God, 
f understood ; this means, " set to work at it." Hereon the 
i master of the house quits his place by the fireside and seats 
himself on the sand opposite to us ; we draw nearer to the dish, 
t \ and four or five others, after some respectful coyness, join the 
circle. Every one then picks out a date or two from the juicy 
half-amalgamated mass, dips them into the butter, and thus 
goes on eating till he has had enough, when he rises and washes 
his hands. 

By this time the coffee is ready, and Soweylim begins his 
/ round, the coffee-pot in one hand, the tray and cups on the 
\ other. The first pouring out he must in etiquette drink him- 
self, by way of a practical assurance that there is no " death 
in the pot;" the guests are next served, beginning with those 
next the honourable fire-side ; the master of the house receives 
his cup last of all. To refuse would be a positive and un- 
pardonable insult ; but one has not much to swallow at a time, 
for the coffee-cups, or finjans, are about the size of a large egg- 
shell at most, and are never more than half-filled. This is 
] considered essential to good breeding, and a brimmer would 
^here imply exactly the reverse of what it does in Europe; 
why it should be so I hardly know* unless perhaps the rareness 



chap, ii] The Djowf 39 

of cup-stands or "zarfs" (see Lane's "Modern Egyptians") in 
Arabia, though these implements are universal in Egypt and 
Syria, might render an over-full cup inconveniently hot for the 
fingers that must grasp it without medium. Be that as it may, 
" fill the cup for your enemy " is an adage common to all, Be- 
douins or townsmen, throughout the Peninsula. The beverage 
itself is singularly aromatic and refreshing, a real tonic, and very 
different from the black mud sucked by the Levantine, or the 
watery roast-bean preparations of France. When the slave or 
freeman, according to circumstances, ^ presents you with a 
cup, he never fails to accompany it with a " Semm'," "say 
the name of God," nor must you take it without answering 
"bismillah." 

When all have been thus served, a second round is poured 
out, but in inverse order, for the host this time drinks first, 
and the guests last On special occasions, a first reception, 
for instance, the ruddy liquor is a third time handed round; 
nay, a fourth cup is sometimes added. But all these put 
together do not come up to one-fourth of what a European 
imbibes in a single draught at breakfast. . X 

Ghafil would have greatly wished us to set up shop and medi- 
cine in his own house, nor without reason, for his domestic 
stock of coffee was almost at an end, and he trusted, under cover 
of hospitality, to drive an advantageous bargain with us for that 
which we had brought. But on our part, my comrade and 
myself were very desirous of finding means for being sometimes 
alone together ; we had much to talk over and consult about, 
and that of a nature not always exactly fitted for our friend's 
hearing; besides, I had my journal to write up, and for this 
and such like matters we had not as yet enjoyed a moment free 
from prying observation from the moment of our leaving Ma'an 
on the 1 6th up to this the 30th of June. Nor could we, while 
remaining as mere guests under another man's roof, obtain the 
independent position so desirable for rightly studying the land 
and its inhabitants. We therefore declined the chief's repeated 
proffer, and insisted, under various decent pretexts, on the 
necessity of a separate lodging-place. 

With this Ghafil was at last obliged to comply, and promised 
us that we should next day be installed in a convenient and 
central dwelling. The rest of the afternoon was devoted to 



40 The Djowf [Chap, ii 

repose, and it was near sunset when our host invited us to visit y - 
his gardens in the cool of the evening. I will take the oppor- 
tunity of leading my readers over the whole of the Djowf, as 
a general view will help better to understand what follows in 
the narrative, besides offering much that will be in part new, 
\I should fancy, to the greater number. 

This province is a sort of oasis, a large oval depression of 
sixty or seventy miles long, by ten or twelve broad, lying between 
the northern desert that separates it from Syria and Euphrates, 
and the southern Nefood, or sandy waste, and interposed between 
it and the nearest mountains of the central Arabian plateau, where 
it first rises at Djebel Shomer. However, from its comparative 
proximity to the latter, no less than from the character of its 
climate and productions, it belongs hardly so much to Northern 
as to Central Arabia, of w T hich it is a kind of porch or vestibule. 
If an equilateral triangle were to be drawn, having its base from 

i Damascus to Bagdad, the vertex would find itself pretty exactly 
at the Djowf, which is thus at a nearly equal distance, south-east 

Jand south-west, from the two localities just mentioned, while the 
same cross-lines, if continued, will give at about the same inter- 
vals of space in the opposite direction, Medinahon the one hand, 
and Zulphah, the great commercial door of Eastern Nejed, on 
the other. Djebel Shomer lies almost due south, and much 
Jib nearer than any other of the places above specified. Partly to 

^ this central position, and partly to its own excavated form, the 
province owes its appropriate name of Djowf, or " belly." The 
" Gut," so familiar to Oxford men, is a case of analogous, and 
not more courtly nomenclature. 

The principal, or rather the only town of the district, all the 
rest being mere hamlets, bears the name of the entire region. 
It is composed of eight villages, once distinct, but which have in 
process of time coalesced into one, and exchanged their separate 
existence and name for that of Sook, or "quarter," of the common 
borough. Of these Sooks the principal is that belonging to the 
family Haboob, and in which we were now lodged. It includes 
the central castle already mentioned, and numbers about four 
hundred houses. The other quarters, some larger, others smaller, 
stretch up and down the valley, but are connected together by 
their extensive gardens. The entire length of the town thus 
formed, with the cultivation immediately annexed, is full four 



I 



Chap. II] The Djowf 4 1 

miles, but the average breadth does not exceed half a mile, and "T 
sometimes falls short of it. -^ 

The size of the domiciles varies with the condition of their 
occupants, and the poor are contented with narrow lodgings, 
though always separate ; for I doubt if throughout the whole of j 
Arabia two families, however needy, inhabit the same dwelling. 
Ghafil's abode, already described, may give a fair idea of the 
better kind ; in such we have an outer court, for unlading camels , 
and the like, an inner court, a large reception room, and several 
other smaller apartments, to which entrance^ is given by a private 
door, and where the family itself is lodged. 

But another and a very characteristic feature of domestic 
architecture is the frequent addition, throughout the Djowf, 
of a round tower, from thirty to forty feet in height and 
twelve or more in breadth, with a narrow entrance and loop- 
holes above. This construction is sometimes contiguous to the 
dwelling place, and sometimes isolated in a neighbouring garden 
belonging to the same master. These towers once answered 
exactly the same purposes as the " torri," well known to travel- | 
lers in many cities of Italy, at Bologna, Sienna, Rome, and | 
elsewhere, and denoted a somewhat analogous state of society 
to what formerly prevailed there. Hither, in time of the ever- 
recurring feuds between rival chiefs and factions, the leaders 
and their partisans used to retire for refuge and defence, and 
hence they would make their sallies to burn and destroy. These^7 
towers, like all the modern edifices of the Djowf, are of unbaked | 
bricks ; their greatlliickiiess and solidity of make, along with \ * 
the extreme tenacity of the soil, joined to a vervdry climate, 
renders the material a rival almost of stonework m strength and 
endurance. Indeed, the dismantled walls, when left to them- 
selves without roof or repair, will, and this I have often wit- 
nessed, defy all the vicissitudes of winter rains and spring gales 
for an entire century, nor even then give much token of their 
age. Since the final occupation of this region by the forces of 
Telal, all these towers have, without exception, been rendered 
unfit for defence, and some are even half ruined. Here again 
the phenomena of Europe have repeated themselves in Arabia. 

The houses are not unfrequently isolated each from the other 
by their gardens and plantation; and this is especially the case 
with the dwellings of chiefs and their families. What has just 



42 The Djowf [Chap, ii 

been said about the towers renders the reasons of this isolation 
sufficiently obvious. But the. dwellings of the commoner sort 
are generally clustered together, though without symmetry or 
method. Equally irregular in form are the spaces of which 
every Sook is possessed for the communal meetings of its in- 
habitants, and which no more resemble, in mathematical cor- 
rectness of outline, Grosvenor or Cavendish Square, than the 
rows of houses do Regent or Oxford Street. 
/The gardens of the Djowf are much celebrated in this part 
$f the East, and justly so. They are of a productiveness and 
variety superior to those of Djebel Shomer or of Upper Nejed, 

| and far beyond whatever the Hedjaz andrits neighbourhood can 
offer. Here, for the first time in our southward course, we 
found the date-palm a main object of cultivation ; and if its 
produce be inferior to that of the same tree in Nejed and Hasa, 
it is far, very far, above whatever Egypt, Africa, or the valley of 
the Tigris from Bagdad to Basra can show. However, the palm 
is by no means alone here. The apricot and the peach, the fig- 

\ tree and the vine, abound throughoUFthese orchard's^ and their 
fruit surpasses in copiousness and flavour that supplied by the 
gardens of Damascus or the hills of Syria and Palestine. In 
the intervals between the trees or in the fields beyond, corn, 
leguminous plants, gourds, melons, &c. &c., are widely culti- 
vated. Here, too, for the last time, the traveller bound for the 
interior sees the irrigation indispensable to all growth and tillage 
in this droughty climate kept up by running streams of clear 
water, whereas in the Nejed and its neighbourhood it has to be 
laboriously procured from wells and cisterns. 

The ripening season of the different kinds of fruit or harvest 
is, of course, earlier here than in Syria, not to say Europe. 
Djowf apricots are in full maturity by the end of May, and the 
vintage falls in July ; peaches delay till August, dateTtill August 
and September. Further south, in Nejed, for instance, all these 
periods are respectively anticipated by about a month, and in 
'Oman by two months at least-. Much did I regret in these 
places my inability to have with me either thermometer or any 
similar instrument for ascertaining the niceties of the tempera- 
ture and atmosphere ; but such kind of baggage would have 
been too inconsistent in Arab eyes with my assumed character, 
too European, in short; besides that, what between jolting 



chap, ii] The Djowf 43 

camels and roughly-packed saddle-bags, a long glass tube would 
have run but an indifferent chance of preserving its integrity, 
even so far as the Djowf. But some rough estimate of the 
average temperature may be gathered from what I have just 
said of the fruit-ripening periods in these regions and from other 
analogous circumstances ; and were we to place the general 
standard of the Djowf thermometer in the shade at noon during 
the months of June, July, and August at about 90 or 95 Fahr., 
we should not, I think, be far wrong for this valley. At night 
the air is, with very few exceptions, cool, at least comparatively, 
so that a variation of twenty or more degreeirbften occurs within 
Va very short period. 

The gardens just described are everywhere enclosed by high 
walls of unbaked brk&, and are intersected by a labyrinth of 
little watercourses passing from tree to tree and from furrow to 
furrow. Among all their different kinds of produce one only - 
is considered as a regular article of sale and export — thejla£e^j»- 
and from this the inhabitants derive a tolerable revenue, not, 
indeed, by traffic within the limits of the Djowf itself, where 
every one is supplied from his own trees, but from the price . 
received in exchange at Tabook or Ha'yel, Damascus and Bag- \ 
dad, for even so far is this fruit carried. It is almost incredible \ 
how large a part the date plays in Arab sustenance ; it is the 
bread of the land, the staff of life, and the staple of commerce. 
Mahomet, who owed his wonderful success at least as much to 
his intense nationality as to any other cause, whether natural or 
supernatural, is said to have addressed his followers on the sub-,.- \ 
ject in these words: " Honour the date-tree, for she is your '\ 
mother ; " a slight extension of the fifth commandment, though 
hardly, perhaps, exceeding the legislative powers of a prophet. 
Yet, with all due deference for authority and experience, I can- 
not exactly agree with him in thinking this leafy mother fully 
entitled to so unreserved a commendation. The date is too 
luscious a food not to weary at last, and is, besides, when dried, 
too heating to be healthy when devoured in the enormous 
quantities which are here taken. 

The Djowf, being a mere collection of houses and gardens 
intermingled as it were at random, is naturally unwalled : the 
number and bravery of its inhabitants suffice to guard them 
against Bedouin -incursions, nor had they any other enemy to 



44 The Djowf [Chap, ii 

dread for many years, till in the last century Wahhabee despot- 
ism, and at a yet later period the growing power of Djebel 
Shomer and its chief, successively assailed and absorbed them. 
Besides the Djowf itself, or capital, there exist several other 
villages belonging to the same homonymous province, and all 
subject to the same central governor. Of these the largest is 
Sekakah ; it lies at about twelve miles distant to the north-east, 
and though inferior to the principal town in importance and 
fertility of soil, almost equals it in the number of its inhabitants. 
I should reckon the united populations of these two localities — 
men, women, and children — at about thirty-three or thirty-four 
thousand souls. This calculation, like many others before us 
in the course of the work, rests partly on an approximate survey 
of the number of dwellings, partly on the military muster, and 
partly on what I heard on the subject from the natives them- 
selves. A census is here unknown, and no register records 
birth, marriage, or death. Yet, by aid of the war list, which 
generally represents about one-tenth of the entire population, 
a fair though not an absolute, idea may be obtained on this 
point. 

Lastly, around and at no great distance from these main 
centres are several small villages or hamlets, eight or ten in 
number, as I was told, and containing each of them from twenty 
to fifty or sixty houses. But I had neither time nor opportunity 
to visit each separately. They cluster round lesser water 
springs, and offer in miniature features much resembling those 
of the capital. The entire population of the province cannot 
exceed forty or forty-two thousand, but it is a brave one, and 
very liberally provided with the physical endowments of which 
it has been acutely said that they are seldom despised save by 
those who do not themselves possess them. Tall, well-propor- 
. tioned, of a tolerably fair complexion, set off by long curling locks 
' of jet-black hair, with features for the most part regular and 
intelligent, and a dignified carriage, the Djowfites are eminently 
good specimens of what may be called the pure northern or 
Ismaelitish Arab type, and in all these respects they yield the 
palm to the inhabitants of Djebel Shomer alone. Their large- 
developed forms and open countenance contrast strongly with 
the somewhat dwarfish stature and suspicious under-glance of 
the Bedouin. They are, besides, a very healthy people, and 



Chap. II] The Djowf 45 

keep up their strength and activity even to an advanced age. 
lit is no uncommon occurrence here to see an old man of 
I seventy set out full-armed among a band of youths ; tFough, by 
the way, such " green old age " is often to be met with also in 
the central provinces further south, as I have had frequent op-* 
portunity of witnessing. The cjimate, too, is good and dry, and 
habits of out-door life contrite not a little to the maintenance 
of health and vigour. ' 

In manners, as in locality, the worthies of Djowf occupy a 
sort of half-way position between Bedouins and the inhabitants 
of the cultivated districts. Thus they partake largely in the 
nomade's aversion to mechanical occupations, in his indifference 
to literary acquirements, in his aimless fickleness too, and even 
in his treacherous ways. And though in general much superior 
in politeness and in self-respect to the Sherarat and their fel- 
lows, they are equally far from displaying the dignified and 
even polished courtesy usual in Shomer and Nejed, much less 
that of Hasa and 'Oman. On the other hand, in cleanliness of 
person and habitation, in agricultural skill, in reasoning powers, 
in a sort of local patriotism, in capacity for treating with 
strangers and conducting commerce, and even in an occasional 
desire of instruction and progress, they come nearer to the 
remaining townsmen and villagers of the Peninsula. They 
were, in fact,, originally, to judge by the annals of Ta'i, their 
ancestral tribe^ a fairly civilized race after the old Arab fashion, 
and have still a positive tendency to become so once more, 
though long held back by the untoward circumstances of war 
and faction, besides the deteriorating influence of the savage 
tribes amongst whom they are in a way isolated by their geo- 
graphical situation. The following incident, in which we our- 
selves had nearly played a very prominent, though by no means 
an equally agreeable part, may serve for a tolerable illustration 
of their actual state between these conflicting tendencies. 

I have said in the preceding chapter, that while we were yet 
threading the narrow gorge near the first entrance of the valley, 
several horsemen appeared on the upper margin of the pass, 
and one of them questioned our guide, and then, after a short 
consultation with his companions, called out to us to go on and 
fear nothing. Now the name of this individual was Sulman- 
ebn-Dahir, a very adventurous and fairly intelligent young 



46 The Djowf [Chap, ii 

fellow, with whom next-door neighbourhood and frequent inter- 
course rendered us intimate during our stay at the Djowf. One 
day, while we were engaged in friendly conversation, he said, 
half laughing, " Do you know what we were consulting about 
while you were in the pass below on the morning of your arri- 
val % It was whether we should make you a good reception, 
and thus procure ourselves the advantage of having you resi- 
dents amongst us, or whether we should not do better to kill 
you all three, and take our gain from the booty to be found in 
your baggage." I replied with equal coolness, " It might have 
proved an awkward affair for yourself and your friends, since 
Hamood your governor could hardly have failed to get wind of 
the matter, and would have taken it out of you." " Pooh ! " 
replied our feiend, "never a bit; as if a present out of the 
plunder would not have tied Hamood's tongue." "Bedouins 
that you are," said I, laughing. " Of course we are," answered 
Sulman, "for such we all were till quite lately, and the present 
system is too recent to have much changed us." However, he 
admitted that they all had, on second thoughts, congratulated 
themselves on not having preferred bloodshed to hospitality, 
though perhaps the better resolution was rather owing to inte- 
rested than to moral motives. 

The most distinctive good feature of the inhabitants of Djowf 
is their liberality. ; Nowhere else, even in Arabia, is the guest, 
so at least he be not murdered before admittance, better treated, 
or more cordially invited to become in every way one of them- 
selves. Courage, too, no one denies them, and they are equally 
lavish of their own lives and property as of their neighbours'. 
Their central position, already explained, is favourable to com- 
merce, though the long distances which must be traversed to or 
from their valley limits this commerce, with few exceptions, to 
certain fixed seasons of the year, namely, the cooler months of 
winter and spring. Yet they have not hitherto learnt to appre- 
ciate the advantages of establishing a regular market-place for 
their wares, nor does a single shop exist even in the capital. 
Buying and selling are carried on in the private dwelling-places 
themselves, and the workshop of the artisan is also his domicile. 
This system has been established and is still maintained in 
favour of the monopoly thus thrown into the hands of the local 
chief in the respective quarters of the town, but it seems likely 



Chap. II] The Djowf 47 

to be abandoned for a better, at least if the present rule be 
maintained for some years tp come. 

Let us now resume the narrative. On the morning after our 
arrival — it was now the ist of July — Ghafil caused a small house 
in the neighbourhood, belonging to one of his dependants, to 
be put at our entire disposal, according to our previous request. 
This our new abode consisted of a small court, with two rooms, 
one on each side, for warehouse and habitation, the whole being 
surrounded with an outer wall, whose door was closed by lock 
and bolt. Of a kitchen-room there was small need, so constant 
and hospitable are the invitations of the/ good folks here to 
strangers ; and if our house was not over spacious, it afforded 
at least what we most desired, namely, seclusion and privacy at 
will ; it was, moreover, at our host's cost, rent and reparations. 

Hither accordingly we transferred baggage and chattels, and 
arranged everything as comfortably as we best could. And as 
we had already concluded from the style and conversation of 
those around us, that their state of society was hardly far 
enough advanced to offer a sufficiently good prospect for medi- 
cal art, whose exercise to be generally advantageous requires a 
certain amount of culture and aptitude in the patient, no less 
than of skill in the physician, we resolved to make commerce 
our main affair here, trusting that by so doing we should gain 
a second advantage, that of lightening our more bulky goods, 
such as coffee and cloth, whose transport had already annoyed 
us not a little. 

But in fact we were not more desirous to sell than the men, 
women, and children of the Djowf were to buy. From the very 
outset our little courtyard was crowded with customers, and the 
most amusing scenes of Arab haggling, in all its mixed shrewd- 
ness and simplicity, diverted us through the week. Handker- 
chief after handkerchief, yard after yard of cloth, beads for the 
women, knives, combs, looking-glasses, and what not ? (for our 
stock was a thorough miscellany), were soon sold off, some for 
ready money, others on credit ; and it is but justice to say that 
all debts so contracted were soon paid in very honestly; Oxford 
High Street tradesmen, at least in former times, were not 
always equally fortunate. 

Meanwhile we had the very best opportunity of becoming 
acquainted with and appreciating all classes, nay, almost all 



48 The Djowf [Chap, n 

individuals of the place. Peasants too from various hamlets 
arrived, led by rumour, whose trumpet, prone to exaggerate 
under every sky, had proclaimed us, throughout the valley of 
Djowf for much more important characters and possessed 
of a much larger stock in hand than was really the case. All 
crowded in, and before long there were more customers than 
wares assembled in the store-room. 

Ghafil, for his part, employed a hundred petty artifices to 
prevent our selling the coffee, which he vehemently desired to 
reserve for his own bargain. No sooner had we an offer for it, 
than he sent some of his relations, or friends to dissuade us from 
coming to terms ; and though we had early perceived his aim, 
we thought it best to wink at it, willing to gratify our first and 
principal host, even at the cost of some slight loss to ourselves. 
I say, our principal host, for everybody who had a dinner or 
a supper to offer was also our host at the Djowf; invitations 
rained in oxi all sides, and it would have been considered a 
shame on the hospitality of the people in general, and a blot on 
their fair name, had we ever been left to dine twice under the 
same roof. Our manner of passing the time was as follows. 
We used to rise at early dawn, lock up the house, and go out in 
the pure cool air of the morning to some quiet spot among the 
neighbouring palm-groves, or scale the wall of some garden, or 
pass right on through the bye-lanes to where cultivation merges 
in the adjoining sands of the valley; in short, to any convenient 
place where we might hope to pass an hour of quiet undisturbed 
by Arab sociability, and have leisure to plan our work for the 
day. We would then return home about sunrise, and find out- 
side the door some tall lad sent by his father, generally one of 
the wealthier and more influential inhabitants of the quarter, 
yet unvisited by us, waiting our return, to invite us to an early 
breakfast. We would now accompany our Mercury to his domi- 
cile, where a hearty reception, and some neighbours collected 
for the occasion, or attracted by a cup of good coffee, were sure 
to be in attendance. Here an hour or so would wear away, 
and some medical or mercantile transaction be sketched out. 
We of course would bring the conversation, whenever it was 
possible, on local topics, according as those present seemed 
likely to afford us exacter knowledge and insight into the real 
state and circumstances of the land. We would then return to 



chap, iij The Djowf 49 

our own quarters, where a crowd of customers awaiting us, 
would allow us neither rest nor pause till noon. Then a short 
interval for date or pumpkin eating in some neighbour's house 
would occur, and after that business be again resumed for three 
or four hours. A walk among the gardens, rarely alone, more 
often in company with friends and acquaintances, would follow ; 
and meanwhile an invitation to supper somewhere had unfail- 
ingly been given and accepted. 

This important meal is here, as almost everywhere else in 
Arab towns, a little before sunset. The staple article of Djowf 
fare, and in Djebel Shomer also, is Dje r e eshah , that is, wheat )£ 
coarsely ground, and then boiled ; buTUJl and* meat are added, / 
sometimes vegetables, gourds, cucumbers, and the like ; eggs, I 
hard-boiled by the way, occasionally come in; but however 
various the items, the whole is piled up heapwise on one large 
copper dish, of circular form, and often a foot and a half or even 
two feet in diameter. The food itself is served scalding hot, but 
is to be eaten with the hand alone; not that any philosophical 
or moral objection exists to forks and spoons, as I have seen 
ingeniously stated by an author — French, I believe — but simply 
that those articles are not to be had here, nor are they indeed 
any way requisite where soup and joints of roast meat are alike 
out of the question. Bread never figures at a Djowf supper, 
though it is common enough at breakfast. This article assumes 
in Arabia infinite varieties of form and quality ; here it consists 
of large unleavened cakes of a moderate thickness. Dates are 
often added to represent garnish at supper ; from what meal 
indeed are they absent 1 No drink but water is known here- 
abouts, though date-tree wine might easily be manufactured, 
and the old poets and writers of Northern Arabia often mention 
it ; but it has now gone out of fashion, and even remembrance. 

After supper all rise, wash their hands, and then go out into the 
open air to sit and smoke a quiet pipe under the still transparent 
sky of the summer evening. Neither mis.t nor vapour, much 
less a cloud, appears ; the moon dips down in silvery whiteness 
to the very verge of the palm-tree tops, and the last rays of day- 
light are almost as sharp and clear as the dawn itself. Chat and 
society continue for an hour or two, and then every one goes 
home, most to sleep, I fancy, for few Penseroso lamps are here 
to be seen at midnight hour, nor does the spirit of Plato stand I 

E 



SO The Djowf [Chap, ii 

much risk of unsphering from the nocturnal studies of the 
Djowf; we, to write our journal, or to compare observations 
and estimate characters. 

Sometimes a comfortable landed proprietor would invite us 
to pass an extemporary holiday morning in his garden, or rather 
orchard, there to eat grapes and enjoy ourselves at will, seated 
under clustering vine-trellises, with palm-trees above and run- 
ning streams around. How pleasant it was after the desert ! 
At other times visits of patients, prescriptions, and similar duties 
would take up a part of the day; or some young fellow, par- 
ticularly desirous of information about Syria or Egypt, or 
perhaps curious after history and moral science, would hold us 
for a couple of hours in serious and sensible talk, at any rate 
to our advantage. 

Let us now pay our official visit to Hamood. To this Ghafil, 
after delaying as long as he decently could, at last consented 
on the fourth day after our arrival. We accordingly set out 
from his house all together, in great state and gravity, accom- 
panied by a bevy of Haboob kinsmen, and wound for a full 
quarter of an hour through narrow garden alleys, overshaded 
by palms and moist with flowing waters, till we emerged on a 
large open space just at the rise of the castle mound. On one 
side, but at some distance, rose the solitary round tower of 
" Marid," or " the Rebellious," whose massive stone walls are 
more than once mentioned in Arab poetry. But its architec- 
ture offers no trace of Greek or Roman skill ; it is clearly the 
work of Arab labour and on an Arab plan, and being such pre- 
sents but little to the study of the artist or the archaeologist. 
However, the actual tenants of the soil, themselves incapable 
of similar constructions, gaze on it with an admiration in which 
a European can hardly share. 

Below us where we now stood on the uprising ground of the 
citadel lay the ruined dwellings of the chiefs of Haboob, 
slaughtered or exiled; and all around them the stumps of 
palm-trees cut down or burnt, and the traces of now unwatered 
gardens bear witness to the late war. Above in front of us rises 
the castle itself, now the residence of Hamood. It is a large 
irregular mass of rough masonry, patched up and added to 
again and again, till its original rectangular form has almost 
disappeared. Indeed, the southerly side is the only one that 



v 



Chap. II] The Djowf 5 I 

has preserved its first line of construction tolerably unbroken, 
and here the huge size and exact squaring of the stones in the 
lower tiers indicates the early date of the fabric, while several 
small windows, at a height of about ten or twelve feet from the 
ground, are topped by what, if I remember right, is called the 
Cyclopean arch — a specimen of which may yet be seen in the so- 
called Palace of Atreus at Mycenae — that most primitive of con- 
structions, in which two flat stones are placed slantways against 
each other. Near the centre of the castle stands a square tower, 
very broad for its height, which hardly exceeds fifty feet, while the 
sides have each a breadth of twenty, or thereabouts. It seems 
to belong to a later period than the southern wall, and has 
narrow loopholes for defence. A large semicircular curtain, 
coming round from this keep to a corner of the outer enclo- 
sure, is evidently of yet more recent fabrication, being built 
roughly and unsystematically with rubble and coarse blocks, 
whereas in the stonework of the tower some attempt at regu- 
larity has been kept up. The entrance gate, placed at the 
southern angle of this motley pile, seems coeval with the main 
tower rather than with the older remains ; it is arched, and in 
this differs from the style used in Nejed, where doors and roofs 
alike are always flat ; a projecting parapet crowns it above, and 
its approach is somewhat guarded by the flanking walls, be- 
tween which it retreats a little. Within, the castle courts and 
galleries are paved with large irregular flags, well fitted together, 
much like what we see in some streets of Florence ; and the 
passages that lead to the interior are long, dark, and vaulted. 
Here on one of the lateral walls I noticed two deeply-cut 

I cro^&es,. certainly of ancient date, and such as not unfrequently 
occur amid the ruins of Hauran in Syria ; they bear witness to 
the prevalence of the Christian religion here in a former age. 

The entrances, at the moment of our arrival, were almost 
filled up by the attendants of Hamood, all armed with swords 
or guns, and tolerably well dressed, but without any distinctive 
badge or livery. We passed through the midst of them, re- 
ceiving the stares of the idle and the salutations of the polite, 
till we reached a second inner court, close under the keep just 

described, and there Hamood was seated in his K'hawah, or ' 

. l 
reception room, a large and gloomy apartment, with high raised 

seats of stone against the two sides farthest from the fireplace ; 

E 2 



5 2 The Djowf [Chap. 11 

this last was placed, as usual, in the corner farthest from the 
entrance. 

There, in the place of distinction, which he never yields to 
any individual of Djowf, whatever be his birth or wealth, 
appeared the governor, a strong, broad-shouldered, dark- 
browed, dark-eyed man, clad in the long white shirt of the 
country, and over it a handsome black cloak, embroidered 
with crimson silk ; on his august head a silken handkerchief 
or Keffee'yeh, girt by a white band of finely woven camel's 
hair ; and in his fingers a grass fan. He rose graciously on our 
approach, extended to us the palm of his hand, and made us 
sit down near his side, keeping, however, Ghafil, as an old 
acquaintance, between himself and us, perhaps as a precau- 
tionary arrangement against any sudden assault or treasonable 
intention on our part, for an Arab, be he who he may, is never 
off his guard when new faces are in presence. In other respects 
he showed us much courtesy and good will, made many civil 
enquiries about our health after so fatiguing a journey, praised 
Damascus and the Damascenes, by way of an indirect compli- 
ment, and offered us a lodging in the castle. But here Ghafil 
availed himself of the privileges conceded by Arab custom to 
priority of hostship to put in his negative on our behalf; nor 
were we anxious to press the matter. A pound or so of our 
choicest coffee, with which we on this occasion presented his 
excellency, both as a mute witness to the object of our journey, 
and the better to secure his good will, was accepted very readily 
by the great man, who in due return offered us his best services. 
We replied that we stood in need of nothing save his long life, 
this being the Arab formula for rejoinder to such fair speeches; 
and, next in order, of means to get safe on to Ha'yel so soon 
as our business at the Djowf should permit, being desirous to 
establish ourselves under the immediate patronage of Telal. 
In this he promised to aid us, and he kept his word. 

Of course coffee was served and dates eaten. Meanwhile 
the three men of Shomer, whom I have mentioned as Hamood's 
council or check-weight, after keeping silence awhile where they 
sat on the raised stone platform opposite to the governor, now 
entered into familiar conversation. They were all three well- 
looking middle-aged individuals, wearing the light cotton hand- 
kerchief spotted with red or blue, which is almost peculiar to 



Chap. II] The Djowf 5 3 



Djebel Shcmer, and everything in their personal appearance 
bespoke a degree of culture and intelligence placing them con- 
siderably above the inhabitants of the Djowf, and even above 
Hamood himself, who, although prudent and skilful enough in 
his affairs, is yet half a Bedouin in manners, and thereby all 
the better suited to the people he rules. With much ease and 
off-handedness they drew us into talk, showed great interest in 
our well-doing, and united in encouraging us to lose no time in 
making our way to Ha'yel, where they ^assured us of an ex- 
cellent welcome from Telal. This was trie first time that we 
heard the genuine Arabic of the interior spoken, and we were 
both of us much struck by its extreme purity and grace, accom- j 
panied by an extreme elegance "oTehunciation ; it is"m fact the! 
language of the Coran, neither more nor less, with all its niceties, \ 
inflections, and desinences, not one is lost or slurred over. 
Our ears were further charmed by the desire they manifested 
to witness some display of medical skill, and by the promise 
that our art would be duly appreciated and earnestly sought 
after in Djebel Shomer, while Telal 'himself. was by their account 
a sort of Augustus and Maecenas in one, and not a whit less 
superior to IJamood than the town of Ha'yel to the semi-Bedouin 
village where we now were. 

Close by these lords of the privy council sat the Metowwaa', 
or minister — clergyman, if you will, (the literal meaning of the 
Arabic word is, " one who enforces obedience," to God, under- 
stood,) — an old sour-faced gentleman sent hither to teach the 
men of Djowf their catechism, and little liked either by his 
scholars or his companions \ a circumstance nowise tending to 
improve his habitually bad temper. 

During the eighteen days which went by in the Djowf, 
Hamood, with all his council, very politely returned our visit ; 
and we on our part made frequent excursions to the castle, and 
more than once partook of its hospitality, or passed a spare hour 
in studying the various and interesting scenes it presented. 
For Hamood, in virtue of his judicial and executive powers, 
held every morning, and some afternoons also, long audiences 
in behalf of whoever had grievances to redress or claims to 
advance ; the contending parties would on such occasions come 
to plead their cause in person before him in the K'hawah ; and 
the governor himself, after a patient hearing, would pronounce 



54 



The Djowf 



[Chap. II 






sentence. I ought to say that cases of life and death, along 
with all permanent legislative acts, are reserved for the head 
j jurisdiction of Ha'yel; whatever falls short of these is left to the 
' vicegerent, who has accordingly plenty of work to go through, 
the more so that it has almost all to be done personally. A\ 
lawyer would have but an indifferent chance of livelihood in 
Arabia, where every one, the very Bedouins included, has j 
eloquence and presence of mind enough to defend his own \ 
cause ; and the chicane of courts would be of little purpose in 
such an assembly, though bribery is not always absent nor 
unsuccessful. I was much amused by the simplicity and 
straightforwardness of all parties in these tribunals ; a court- 
martial is complicated in comparison. But when the plaintiff 
or defendant chances to be a Bedouin, we have a thorough 
comedy ; the following, for instance. 

One day my comrade and myself were on a visit of mere 
politeness at the castle, the customary ceremonies had been 
gone through, and business, at first interrupted by our entrance, 
had resumed its course. A Bedouin of the Ma'az tribe was 
pleading his cause before Hamood, and accusing some one of 
having forcibly taken away his camel. The governor was seated 
with an air of intense gravity in his corner, half leaning on a 
cushion, while the Bedouin, cross-legged on the ground before 
him, and within six feet of his person, flourished in his hand 
a large reaping-hook, identically that which is here used for 
cutting grass. Energetically gesticulating with this graceful 
implement, he thus challenged his judge's attention. " You, 
Hamood, do you hear ? " (stretching out at the same time the 
hook towards the governor, so as almost to reach his body, as 
though he meant to rip him open) ; " he has taken from me my 
camel; have you called God to mind?" (again putting his 
weapon close to the unflinching magistrate); " the camel is my 
camel; do you hear?" (with another reminder from the reaping- 
hook); "he is mine, by God's award and yours too; do you 
hear, child?" and so on, while IJamood sat without moving a 
muscle of face or limb, imperturbable and impassible, till some 
one of the counsellors quieted the plaintiff, with " Remember 
God, child ; it is of no consequence, you shall not be wronged." 
Then the judge called on the witnesses, men of the Djowf, to 
say their say, and on their confirmation of the Bedouin's state- 



Chap. II] The Djowf 5 

ment, gave orders to two of his satellites to search for and 
bring before him the accused party; while he added to the 
Ma'azee, " All right, daddy, you shall have your own ; put your 
confidence in God," and composedly motioned him back to 
his place. 

Within the castle limits is enclosed the spacious Mesjid, or 
Mosque, constructed by order of 'Obeyd when on his first 
visit to the Djowf. But though large, it is a very simple and 
unadorned construction, being nothing mpre than a sort of 
portico, fourteen columns in length by thrle in depth; and since 
the space from pillar to pillar is about twelve feet, the entire 
edifice may be a hundred and eighty long, and nearly forty 
broad. The supports are of wood, the walls of earth, and the 
roof of flat rafters. In this meeting-place the stated Friday 
prayers are read, and the Khotbaht or stereotyped sermon 
pronounced ; all who can attend ought to do so ; but IJamood 
takes little pains to enforce such regularity ; and in absence of 
positive constraint, the orthodox injunctions to attendance 
have too feeble an echo in Djowf hearts to bring about even a 
tolerable assembly. The sultan's name, 'Abd-el-'Azeez Khan, 
is mentioned in the Khotbah, and that is all his Ottoman 
Majesty gets of subjection from the Djowf, or indeed through- 
out the dominions of Tela! Farther south, the " Lord of the two 
continents and of the two seas," is denied even the empty 
honour of name or recognition. 

A fortnight and more went by, and found us still in the 
Djowf, " honoured guests " in Arab phrase, and well rested 
from the bye-gone fatigues of the desert. Ghafil's dwelling was 
still, so to speak, our official home ; but there were two other 
houses where we were still more at our ease ; that of Dafee, 
the same who along with Ghafil came to meet us on our first 
arrival; and that of Salim, a respectable, and, in his way, a 
literary old man, our near neighbour, and surrounded by a large 
family of fine strapping youths, all of them brought up more or 
less in the fear of Allah and in good example. Hither we used 
to retire when wearied of Ghafil and his like, and pass a quiet 
hour in their K'hawah, reciting or hearing Arab poetry, talking 
over the condition of the country and its future prospects, dis- 
cussing points of morality, or commenting on the ways and 
fashions of the day. In either of these houses we were always 







5 6 The Djowf lchap. it 

sure of rinding a hearty welcome and a reluctant farewell ; and 
when afterwards far off in Ha'yel we continued to receive 
messages from Dafee and Salim to beg the realization of our 
ambiguous and indefinite promises of a future return. 

However, in very truth, all, or almost all, were our friends at 
heart, and really meant us well, with a hearty desire to see us 
established among them. Proffers of partnership in business, 
nay, of marriage alliance, were not uncommon, and we had to 
defend ourselves not less strenuously than Ulysses against the 
charms of more than one half-unveiled Calypso. Even Ghafil 
was, to a certain extent, sincere ; and it is a general feature in 
the Arab character, that the heartiest friendship and the most 
profuse generosity are nowise incompatible with a hard bargain 
or taking an advantage in affairs, of which this worthy's conduct 
was an excellent illustration. 

But now came another question ; how were we to get on to 
Djebel Shomer % Between it and us lay the formidable sand- 
passes, called the Nefood, where Arab travellers, however bold, 
are in no hurry to adventure at any season of the year, and to 
pass which in the latter half of July might be reckoned almost 
as difficult an exploit, though for a somewhat contrary reason, 
as to sail through Behring's Straits in the month of January. 
In fact, from May to September few and far between are those 
who commit their beasts or themselves to the hazards of these 
burning sands. So that to all our enquiries on this subject, 
" wait till the dates be ripe " was the only answer, and these 
same dates were not to ripen till the rise of Soheyl, or Canopus, 
here coincident with the first week of September, and the be- 
ginning of the new year in popular computation. 

"What to do 1 ?" as I once heard a Frenchman say, thus 
translating his " quoi faire % " a thought too literally into Eng- 
lish. We did not well know, only we were terribly annoyed 
at the prospect of so long a delay, when there occurred a 
favourable and unlooked-for opportunity of accomplishing our 
wishes. 

Telal, soon after taking possession of the Djowf, had begun 
to use that province as a basis for extending his power thence 
over the whole of the surrounding desert and its indwellers, up 
to the Pilgrim road on the west and Syria on the north. The 
intervening space is, as we have already seen, occupied chiefly 



chap, ii] The Djowf 57 

by the Sherarat Bedouins, against whom Tela! directed an 
open attack, terminated the very year of our visit, 1862, by the 
submission of the 'Azzam, the last independent branch of the 
tribe. Just at this nick of time about a dozen chiefs of that 
clan arrived at the Djowf, on their way to Djebel Shomer, 
where they purposed to win TelaTs good graces by tendering 
him their allegiance in his very capital. Hamood received them, 
and lodged them for several days, while they rested from their 
past fatigues, and prepared themselves for w^at yet lay before 
them. Some inhabitants of the Djowf, whose business required 
their presence at Ha'yel, were to join the party. Hamood sent 
for us, and gave us notice of this expedition, and on our 
declaring that we desired to profit by it, he handed us a scrap 
of paper, addressed to Tela! himself, wherein he certified that 
we had duly paid the entrance fee exacted from strangers on 
their coming within the limits of Shomer rule, and that we 
were indeed respectable individuals, worthy of all good treat- 
ment. Now, as the toll thus levied on the frontiers amounts 
to only four shillings or somewhat less per individual, one 
cannot say that it is too much to pay in quittance of all 
custom-house duties or passport fees soever. Nor is anything 
else required or expected. We then, in presence of Hamood, 
struck our bargain with one of the band for a couple of 
camels, whose price, including all the services of their master 
as guide and companion for ten days of July travelling, was 
not extravagant either ; it came up to just a hundred and ten / 
piastres, equivalent to eighteen or nineteen shillings of Englisry^/ 
money. * l 

We now laid in provisions for the way in dates and flour, 
repaired our water-skins, recovered what arrears of debt yet 
remained in our favour, and awaited the moment for starting ; 
while our Djowf friends did their best to dissuade us from such 
a journey at such a season. As we could not of course explain 
to them our precise reasons for so ill-timed an adventure, our 
obstinacy in rejecting their well-meant advice seemed almost 
incomprehensible ; till they ended by setting it down to our 
being " ShoVam " or Damascenes ; the inhabitants of Syria in 
general, and those of the capital yet more specially, being 
famous for headiness and the spirit of contradiction. 

Many delays occurred, and it was not till the 18th of July, 



5 8 The Djowf [Chap, n 

when the figs were fully ripe — a circumstance which furnished 
the natives of Djowf with new cause of wonder at our rushing 
away, in lieu of waiting like rational beings to enjoy the good 
things of the land — that we received our final "Son of Hodeirah, 
depart." This was intimated to us, not by a locust, but by a 
creature almost as queer, namely, our new conductor, a half- 
cracked Arab, neither peasant nor Bedouin, but something ano- 
malous between the two, hight Djedey', and a native of the 
outskirts of Djebel Shomer, who darkened our door in the fore- 
noon, and warned us to make our final packing up and get 
ready for starting the same day. Near the hour called by Arabs 
the 'Asr, that is, between three and four after mid-day, we took 
leave of our neighbours and mounted our camels, now much 
lighter laden than when we set out for Ma'an, while Dafee, 
'Okeyl (the eldest son of Ghafil, for his father was just then 
absent from the Djowf on a hunting party), and some others of 
our acquaintance, accompanied us, according to Eastern cus- 
tom, for a short way on the outset of our journey, heartily sorry 
to see us go, and with many invitations for a prompt return. 
" Insha' Allah," "if God wills," was our reply. What better 
could we say % 

When once clear of the houses and gardens, Djedey' led us 
by a road skirting the southern side of the valley, till we arrived, 
before sunset, at the other or eastern extremity of the town. 
Here was the rendezvous agreed on by our companions ; but 
they did not appear, and reason good, for they had right to a 
supper more under Hamood's roof, and were loth to lose it. So 
we halted and alighted alone. The chief of this quarter, which 
is above two miles distant from the castle, invited us to supper, 
and thence we returned to our baggage, there to sleep. To pass 
a summer's night in the open air on a soft sand-bed implies no 
great privation in these countries, nor is any one looked on as 
a hero for so doing. 

Early next morning, while Venus yet shone like a drop of 
melted silver on the slaty blue, three of our party arrived and 
announced that the rest of our companions would soon come 
. up. Encouraged by the news, we determined to march on 
without further tarrying, and ere sunrise we climbed the steep 
ascent of the southerly bank, whence we had a magnificent 
view of the whole length of the Djowf, its castle and towers. 



chap, iij The Djowf 59 

and groves and gardens, in the ruddy light of morning, and be- 
yond the drear northern deserts stretching far away. We then 
dipped down the other side of the bordering hill, not again to 
see the Djowf till — who knows when ? 

Our way was now to the south-east, across a large plain 
varied with sand-mounds and covered with the Ghada bush 
already described, so that our camels were much more inclined 
to crop pasture than to do their business in journeying ahead. 
About noon we halted near a large tuft of tr^is shrub, at least 
ten feet high. We constructed a sort of^eabin with boughs 
broken off the neighbouring plants and suitably arranged shed- 
wise, and thus passed the. noon hours of intolerable heat till 
the whole band came in sight. 

They were barbarous, nay, almost savage fellows, like most 
Sherarat, whether chiefs or people ; but they had been some- 
what awed by the grandeurs of Hamood, and yet more so by 
the prospect of coming so soon before the terrible majesty of 
Tela! himself. All were duly armed, and had put on their best 
suits of apparel; an equipment worthy of a scarecrow or of an 
Irishman at a wake. Tattered red overalls ; cloaks with more 
patches than original substance, or, worse yet, which opened 
large mouths to cry for patching, but had not got it ; little 
broken tobacco pipes, and no trowsers soever (by the way, all 
genuine Arabs are sans culottes) ; faces meagre with habitual 
hunger, and black with dirt and weather stains ; — such were the 
high-born chiefs of 'Azzam, on their way to the king's levee. 
Along with them were two Bedouins of the Shomer tribe, a 
degree better in guise and person than the Sherarat ; and lastly, 
three men of Djowf, who looked almost like gentlemen among 
such ragamuffins. As to my comrade and myself, I trust that 
the reader will charitably suppose us the exquisites of the party. 
So we rode on together. 

Next morning, a little after sunrise, we arrived at a white 
calcareous valley, girt round with low hills of marl and sand. 
Here was the famous Be'er Shekeek, or "well of Shekeek," 
whence we were to fill our water-skins, and that thoroughly, 
since no other source lay before us for four days' march amid 
the sand passes, up to the very verge of Djebel Shomer. This 
well is very deep, .eighty feet at least, judging by the length of 
cord let down into it before reaching water ; it is about three 



) 



Sw 



60 The DjOWf [Chap. II 

feet in breadth at its orifice, though widening out cistern-like 
below. Around it is a raised stone parapet, and the interior 
also is coated with masonry. 

- Here our Arabs set to work, and shouting, laughing, and 
pulling, drew up bucket after bucket, till they filled the skins 
to bursting. Noon has now passed, and there is no time to 
lose ; indeed, the stock of water laid in will barely suffice its 
allotted period, especially in such a heat as this. So we all 
mount our camels, who have been wisely for once employed 
in storing a good provision of moisture in their complicated 
stomachs, and pursue our way. In less than half an hour we 
have cleared the chalky hollow, and enter at once on the 
Nefood. But here, travellers and readers, let us pause for a 
moment before encountering the severest fatigue of the wholj 
journey. 



6i 



CHAPTER III 

The Nefood and Djebel Shomer 

Per correr miglior acqua alza le vele , 
Omai la navicella del mio ingegno,/ ,- 
Che lascia dietro a se mar si crudele.^jDante 

Nefood — General Idea of the Desert — Description of the Nefood — Conduct of 
the Bedouins in our Party — ' Aalam-es-Sd ad — News of'Oneyzah — Distant 
View of Djebel Djobbah — Band of Shomer Horsemen — Djobbah, its Neigh- 
bourhood — The Governor — ' Aakil — Second Nefood — Sand Hollow and 
Wells—Djebel Shomer — Jjfenah, Lakeetah, and Woseytah — First View of 
If a' y el — The Palace, its Buildings and Outer Court — Attendants and 
People — Seyf the Chamberlain — Unexpected Recognition — TelaPs Arsenal; 
his ^hdwah — State Prisoners — TelaVs own Person and Retinue — First 
Meeting — Supper and Lodgings — 'Abd-el-Mahsin, his History and Cha- 
racter — ' Abd-Allah-ebn-Rasheed — His First Attempt and Adventures — His 
Enlistment under Turkee-ebn-Sd ood at Riad — Expedition against Ifasa — 
^ Abd- Allah and Mesharee — Foundation of the New Shomer Dynasty — De- 
struction of Beyt-Alee — Reign of ' Abd- Allah — Principal Events — Wars 
and Conquests — He begins the New Quarter and Palace of If a! y el — Teldl 
Succeeds — His Conquests — Internal and External Policy- — Personal Quali- 
ties and Family — Audience given to the 'Azzam Sherarat. 

Daughters of the Great Desert, to use an Arab phrase, the 
" Nefood," or sand passes, bear but too strong a family resem- 
blance to their unamiable mother. What has been said else- 
where about their origin, their extent, their bearings, and their 
connection with the D'hana, or main sand waste of the south, 
may exempt me from here entering on a minute enarration of 
all their geographical details ; let it suffice for the present that 
they are offshoots — inlets^ one might not unsuitably call them — 
of the great ocean of sand that covers about one-third of the 
Peninsula, into whose central and comparatively fertile plateau 
they make deep inroads, nay, in some places almost intersect 
it. Their general character, of which the following pages will, 
I trust, give a tolerably correct idea, is also that of Dahna, or 
\/ " red desert," itself. The Arabs, always prone to localize 
rather than generalize, count these sand-streams by scores, but 

•f 



62 



The Nefood and Djebel Shomer [Chap, hi 








they may all be referred to four principal courses, and he who 
would traverse the centre must necessarily cross two of them, 
perhaps even three, as we did. 

The general type of Arabia is that of a central table-land, 
surrounded by a desert ring, sandy to the south, west, and east, 
and stony to the north. This outlying circle is in its turn girt by 
a line of mountains, low and sterile for the most, but attaining 
in Yemen and 'Oman considerable height, breadth, and fertility, 
while beyond these a narrow rim of coast is bordered by the 
sea. The surface of the midmost table-land equals somewhat 
less than one-half of the entire Peninsula, and its special 
demarcations are much affected, nay, often absolutely fixed, 
by the windings and in-runnings of the Nefood. If to these 
central high-lands, or Nejed, taking that word in its wider 
sense, we add the Djowf, the Ta'yif, Djebel 'Aaseer, Yemen, 
'Oman, and Hasa, in short, whatever spots of fertility belong 
to the outer circles, we shall find that Arabia contains about 
thirds of cultivated, or at least of cultivable land, with a 
remaining third of irreclaimable desert, chiefly to the south. 
In most other directions the great blank spaces often left in 
maps of this country are quite as frequently indications of 
non-information as of real non-inhabitation. However, we 
have just now a strip, though fortunately only a strip, of pure 
unmitigated desert before us, after which better lands await 
us ; and in this hope let us take courage with the old poet, 
who has kindly furnished me with a very appropriate heading 
to this chapter, and boldly enter the Nefood. 

Much had we heard of them from Bedouins and countrymen, 
so that we had made up our minds to something very terrible 
and very impracticable. But the reality, especially in these 
dog-days, proved worse than aught heard or imagined. 

We were now traversing an immense ocean of loose reddish 

nd, unlimited to the eye, and heaped up in enormous ridges 
running parallel to each other from north to south, undulation 
after undulation, each swell two or three hundred feet in average 
height, with slant sides and rounded crests furrowed in every 
direction by the capricious gales of the desert. In the depths 
between the traveller finds himself as it were imprisoned in a 
suffocating sand-pit, hemmed in by burning walls on every side ; 
while at other times, while labouring up the slope, he overlooks 
what seems a vast sea of fire, swelling under a heavy monsoon 



Chap. Ill] 



Hqyel and Telal 63 



wind, and ruffled by a cross-blast into little red-hot waves. 

Neithe 

and ht 

below. 



Neither shelter nor rest for eye or limb amid torrents of light 
and heat poured from above on an answering glare reflected 



Tale scendeva 1' eternale ardore ; 
Onde la rena s' accendea com' esca 
Sotto focile, a doppiar lo dolore. 

Add to this the weariness of long summer days of toiling — I 
might better say wading — through the loose and scorching soil, 
on drooping half-stupefied beasts, with few and interrupted hours 
of sleep at night, and no rest by day because no shelter, little 
to eat and less to drink, while the tepid andTcliscoloured water in 
the skins rapidly diminishes even more by evaporation than by 
use, and a vertical sun, such a sun, strikes blazing down till 
clothes, baggage, and housings all take the smell of burning, 
and scarce permit the touch. The boisterous gaiety of the 
Bedouins was soon expended, and scattered, one to front, 
another behind, each pursued his way in a silence only broken 
by the angry snarl of the camels when struck, as they often 
were, to improve their pace. 

It was on the 20th of July, a little after noon, that we had 
left Be'er Shekeek. The rest of that day and almost all night 
we journeyed on, for here three or four hours of repose at a 
time, supper included, was all that could be taken, since, if we 
did not reach the other side of the Nefood before -our store of 
water was exhausted, we were lost for certain. Indeed, during 
the last twenty-four hours of these passes, to call them by 
their Arab name, we had only one hour of halt. Monday, the 
2 1 st of July, wore slowly away, most slowly it seemed, in the 
same labour, and amid the same unvarying scene. The loose 
sand hardly admits of any vegetation ; even the Ghada, which, 
like many other Euphorbias, seems hardly to require either 
earth or moisture for its sustenance, is here scant and miserably 
stunted ; none can afford either shelter or pasture. Sometimes 
a sort of track appears, more often none ; the moving surface 
has long since lost the traces of those who last crossed it. 

About this time we noticed in the manner of our Sherarat 
companions, especially the younger ones, a certain insolent 
familiarity which put us much on our guard ; for it is the custom 
of the Bedouin, when meditating plunder or treachery, to try 
the ground first "in this fashion, and if he sees any signs of 



64 The Nefood mid Djebel S homer [Chap, hi 

(timidity or yielding in his intended victim, he takes it as a 
signal for proceeding further. The best plan in such cases is to 
put on a sour face and keep silence, with now and then a sharp 
reprimand by way of intimidation, and this often cows the 
savage just as a barking dog will shrink back under a steady 
look. Such was accordingly our conduct on the present 
occasion. We kept apart for hours at a time, and when along- 
side of the brigandSj, said little, and that little anything but 
friendly. Before long the more impudent appeared abashed or 
I embarrassed, and fell back, while an old 'Azzam chief, with a 
dry face like a withered crab -apple, pushed his dromedary up 
alongside of mine, under pretext of seeking medical advice, 
but in reality to make thus a proffer of friendliness and respect. 
Of course I met his advances with cold and sullen reserve ; and 
hereon he began to apologize for the "Ghushm," "ill-bred 
clowns " of his party, assuring us that they had, however, no 
bad intention ; that it was merely want of good education; that 
all were our brothers, our servants, &c. &c. We received his 
apology with an air of dignified importance, talked big of what 
we could or would do — very little, I fear, had matters been 
brought to the test — and then condescended to friendly chat 
and professional information, according to what his ailments 
might require or his intelligence admit. 

But I afterwards learned from the Shomer Bedouins and 
from the men of Djowf, that the worthy Sherarats, supposing us 
to have amassed great wealth under Hamood's patronage, had 
seriously proposed to take the opportunity of this desert solitude 
to pillage us, and then leave us without water or camels to find 
our way out of the Nefood as best we might, that is, never. 
This Uttle scheme they had communicated to the Shomer, 
hoping for their compliance and aid. But these last, more accus- 
tomed to the restraints of neighbouring rule, were afraid of the 
consequences ; knowing, too, that Telal, if anyhow informed of 
such proceedings, might very possibly constitute himself our 
sole legatee, executor, and something more. Accordingly they 
i refused to join, and the conspirators, who perceived from our 
j manner that we already had some suspicion about their inten- 
I tions, hastened to plaster matters over before we should be in 
I a way to compromise their position at Ha'yel, by complaints of 
their meditated treachery. 







Chap, mi IJayel and Teldl 65 

Near sunset of the second day we came in sight of two lonely 
pyramidal peaks of dark granite, rising amid the sand-waves 
full in our way. " 'Aalam-es-Sa'ad," the people call them, that 
is, " the signs of good luck," because they indicate that about 
one-third of the distance from Be'er-Shekeek to Djebel Shomer 
has been here passed. They stand out; like islands, or rather 
like the rocks that start from the sea near the mouth of the 
Tagus, or like the Maldive group in the midst of the deep 
Indian Ocean. Their roots must be in the rocky base over 
which this upper layer of sand is strewn like the sea-water 
over its bed ; we shall afterwards meet wit^h^imilar phenomena 
in other desert spots. Here the under stratum is evidently of 
granite, sometimes it is calcareous. As to the average depth 
of the sand, I should estimate it at about four hundred feet, 
but it may not unfrequently be much more j at least I have/ 
met with hollows of full six hundred feet in perpendiculaj 
descent. 

On we journeyed with the 'Aalam-es-Sa'ad looming dark 
before us, till when near midnight, so far as I could calculate 
by the stars, our only timepiece (and not a bad one in these 
clear skies), we passed close under the huge black masses of 
rock. Vainly had I flattered myself with a halt, were it but I 
of half an hour, on the occasion. " On we swept," and not till j 
the morning star rose close beneath the Pleiades was the word { 
given to dismount. We tumbled rather than lay down on the 
ground ; and before sunrise were once more on our way. 

Soon we reached the summit of a gigantic sand ridge. " Look 
there," said Djedey' to us, and pointed forwards. Far off on 
the extreme horizon a blue cloud-like peak appeared, and 
another somewhat lower at its side. " Those are the mountains 
of Djobbah, and the nearest limits of Djebel Shomer," said 
our guide. Considering how loose the water-skins now flapped 
at the camel's side, my first thought was, " how are we to reach 
them?": all the band seemed much of the same mind, for they 
pushed on harder than before. 

Near this we fell in with a small party of roving Bedouins, 
from the south ; and by their conversation received our first 
news of the war then raging in the province of Kaseem, be- 
tween the Wahhabee monarch and the partisans of 'Oneyzah, — 
war of which we shall afterwards see and hear our fill, and of 

F 



66 



The Nefood Und Djebel S homer fchap. hi 






which we shall learn also, though not till the following year 
and when on the very point of quitting Arabia, the disastrous 
conclusion. 

Meanwhile with no slight difficulty we slid down the sand, 
descending from our elevated position, and at once lost sight, 
much to my regret, of the peaks of Djobbah; nor did we view 
them again till when close under their base, at the verge of the 
Nefood. 

But the further we advanced the worse did the desert grow, 
more desolate, more hopeless in its barren waves; and at noon 
our band broke up into a thorough "sauve qui peut;" some had 
already exhausted their provisions, solid or liquid, and others 
were scarcely better furnished; every one goaded on his beast 
to reach the land of rest and safety. Djedey', my comrade, and 
myself, kept naturally together. On a sudden my attention 
was called to two or three sparrows, twittering under a shrub 
by the wayside. They were the first birds we had met with in 
this desert, and indicated Our approach to cultivation and life. 
I bethought me of tales heard in childhood, at a comfortable 
fireside, how some far-wandering sailors, Columbus and his 
crew, if my memory serves me right, after days and months of 
dreary ocean, welcomed a bird that, borne from some yet un- 
discovered coast, first settled on their mast. My comrade fell 
a crying for very joy. 

However we had yet a long course before us, and we ploughed 
on all that evening with scarce an hour's halt for a most scanty 
supper, and then all night up and down the undulating laby- 
rinth, like men in an enchanter's circle, fated always to journey 
and never to advance. During the dark hours that immediately 
precede the dawn, we fell in with a band of some sixty horse- 
men, armed with matchlocks and lances ; they formed part of a 
military expedition directed by order of Telal against the inso- 
lence of some Tey'yahha Bedouins in the neighbourhood of 
Teymah. 

The morning broke on us still toiling amid the sands. By 
daylight we saw our straggling companions like black specks 
here and there, one far ahead on a yet vigorous dromedary, 
another in the rear, dismounted, and urging his fallen beast to 
rise by plunging a knife a good inch deep into its haunches, a 
third lagging in the extreme distance. Every one for himself 



7 



chap. Hi] Hayel and Teldl 67 



and God for us all ! — so we quickened our pace, looking 
anxiously before us for the hills of Djobbah, which could not 
now be distant. At noon we came in sight of them all at 
once, close on our right, wild and fantastic cliffs, rising sheer 
on the margin of the sand sea. We coasted them awhile, till 
at a turn the whole plain of Djobbah and its landscape opened 
on our view. 

Here we had before us a cluster of black granite rocks, 
streaked with red, and about seven hundred feet, at a rough 
guess, in height; beyond them a large barren plain, partly 
white and encrusted with salt, partly greer^ with tillage, and / 
studded with palm groves, amongst which we could discern, / 
not far off, the village of Djobbah, much resembling that off 
Djowf in arrangement and general appearance, only smaller, 
and without castle or tower. Beyond the valley glistened a 
second line of sand-hills, but less wild and desolate looking 
than those behind us, and far in the distance the main range of 
Djebel Shomer, a long purple sierra of most picturesque out- 
line. Had we there and then mounted, as we afterwards did, 
the heights on our right, we should have also seen in the ]&vwj 
extreme south-west a green patch near the horizon, where 
cluster the palm plantations of Teymah, a place famed in Arab 
history, and by some supposed identical with the Teman of / ><[ y ^ 
Holy Writ. r.UoA 

But for the moment a drop of fresh water and a shelter from 
the July sun was much more in our thoughts than all the Tey- *° <\2s 
mahs or Temans that ever existed. My camel, too, was not at AVKH / -- [+ 
the end of his wits, for he never had any, but of his legs, and 0^$*} ; 
hardly capable of advance, while I was myself too tired to urge ^ j / V> 

him vigorously, and we took a fair hour to cross a narrow white 
strip of mingled salt and sand that yet intervened between us 3 1 

and the village. 

Without its garden walls was pitched the very identical tent 
of our noble guide, and here his wife and family were anxiously 
awaiting their lord. Djedey' invited us — indeed he could not 
conformably with Shomer customs do less — to partake of his 
board and lodging, and we had no better course than to accept 
of both. So we let our camels fling themselves out like dead or 
dying alongside of the tabernacle, and entered to drink water 

f 2 

(ft %Jks+s 



68 The Nefood and Djebel Shomer [Chap, in 

mixed with sour milk, and to repose in the equivocal shade 
afforded by a single tattered covering of black goat's hair. 

As evening drew on, Djedey', after givirVg his camels a well- 
earned draught from the garden well close by, invited us to pay 
a visit of ceremony to the local governor 'Aakil, a native of the 
village itself, but invested by Telal with vicarious authority. 
Now our friend's real object in calling in at this hour was to 
ensure a good supper, a thing which his own domicile could 
hardly have mustered. To the great delight of my comrade, 
whom the wretchedness of Djedey's hovel had led to anticipate 
a correspondingly miserable kitchen, our guide's manoeuvres, 
the most intellectual of which a Bedouin is capable, met with 
deserved success. 'Aakil honoured us with the desired invita- 
tion ; and the day closed in a good supper and a lively evening, 
during which Djedey' amused the whole party, by an uncouth 
dance with the coffee-making negro of the governor. 

Next day we remained quiet ; all glad of an interval of repose 
before the three days' journey which was to lead us to Ha'yel. 
Sometimes we climbed the heights to get a wider range of view, 
sometimes we strolled about the irregular village and talked 
with its inhabitants ; and here first we met with unmistakable 
proofs of that deep half-idolizing attachment which the very 
name of Telal claims throughout the whole of Djebel Shomer. 
The quiet and settled state of all things here much contrasted 
with the half-anarchical condition lately witnessed in the Djowf, 
and its war-seamed features. But the soil of Djobbah is poor, 
and its produce, though of the same kind with that we had left 
behind us, was in every way inferior to it. 

The village itself so far resembles the Djowf, that I may be 
excused from entering on particular details regarding houses, 
gardens, and the like. I may here add, as an apology for brevity 
of description, while we pass by the different localities of Djebel 
Shomer, that they have almost all of them, whether large or 
small, much the same straggling appearance, the same mixture 
of dwellings and cultivation, of plantations and byways, the 
same neglect of fortification and defence, which distinguishes 
them from the compact and well-guarded villages of Nejed 
Proper, and denotes habitual security ; but also, alas ! a total 
disregard for whatever is known in Europe by the name of 
symmetry, of which no true Arab of the north, whether sleeping 



Chap. Ill] 



Hatyel and Teldl 



or waking, had ever an idea. I say of the north, for in Hasa 
and 'Oman the laws of architectural proportion are known and 
observed, nor are they wholly absent from middle and southerj 
Nejed. 

About sunrise on the 25th of July we left Djobbah, crossed 
the valley to the south-east, and entered once more on a sandy 
desert, but a desert, as I have before hinted, of a milder and 
less inhospitable character than the dreary Nefood of two days 
back. Here the sand is thickly sprinkled with shrubs, and not 
altogether devoid of herbs and grass ; while the undulations of 
the surface, running invariably from nortrAb south, according 
to the general rule of that phenomenon, are much less deeply 
traced, though never wholly absent. We paced on all day ; at 
nightfall we found ourselves on the edge of a vast funnel-like 
depression,, where the sand recedes on all sides to leave bare 
the chalky bottom-strata below; here lights glimmering amid 
Bedouin tents in the depths of the valley invited us to try our 
chance of a preliminary supper before the repose of the night. 
We had, however, much ado to descend the cavity, so steep was 
the sandy slope; while its circular form and spiral marking 
reminded me of Edgar Poe's imaginative " Maelstroom." The 
Arabs to whom the watch-fires belonged were shepherds of the 
numerous Shomer tribe, whence the district, plain and mountain, 
takes its name. They welcomed us to a share of their supper ; 
and a good dish of rice, instead of insipid samh or pasty 
Djereeshah, augured a certain approach to civilization. 

At break of day we resumed our march, and met with camels 
and camel-drivers in abundance, besides a few sheep and goats. 
Before noon we had got clear of the sandy patch, and entered 
in its stead on a firm gravelly soil. Here we enjoyed an hour 
of midday halt and shade in a natural cavern, hollowed out in 
a high granite rock ; itself an advanced guard of the main body 
of Djebel Shomer. This mountain range now rose before us, 
wholly unlike any other that I had ever seen ; a huge mass of 
crag and stone, piled up in fantastic disorder, with green valleys 
and habitations intervening. The sun had not yet set when we 
reached the pretty village of l£enah, amid groves and waters, no 
more, however, running streams like those of Djowf, but an 
artificial irrigation by means of wells and buckets. At some 
distance from the houses stood a cluster of three or four large 



yo The Nefood and Djebel Showier lchap. in 

over-shadowing trees, objects of peasant veneration here, as 
once in Palestine. The welcome of the inhabitants, when we 
dismounted at their doors, was hearty and hospitable, nay, even 
polite and considerate ; and a good meal, with a dish of fresh 
grapes for dessert, was soon set before us in the verandah of a 
pleasant little house, much reminding me of an English farm- 
cottage, whither the good man of the dwelling had invited us for 
the evening. All expressed gieat desire to profit by our medical 
skill; and on our reply that we could not conveniently open 
shop except at the capital Ha'yel, several announced their 
resolution to visit us there ; and subsequently kept their word, 
though at the cost of about twenty-four miles of journey. 

We rose very early. Our path, well tracked and trodden, 
now lay between ridges of precipitous rock, rising abruptly from 
a level and grassy plain ; sometimes the road was sunk in deep 
gorges, sometimes it opened out on wider spaces, where trees 
and villagers appeared, while the number of wayfarers, on foot 
or mounted, single or in bands, still increased as we drew nearer 
to the capital. About noon we came opposite to a large village 
called Lakeetah, where we turned aside to rest a little during 
the heat in the house of a wealthy inhabitant. There was an 
air of newness and security about the dwellings and plantations 
hardly to be found now-a-days in any other part of Arabia, 
'Oman alone excepted. I may add also the great frequency of 
young trees and ground newly enclosed, a cheerful sight, yet 
further enhanced by the total absence of ruins, so common in 
the East ; hence the general effect produced by Djebel Shomer, 
when contrasted with most other provinces or kingdoms around, 
near and far, is that of a newly coined piece, in all its sharpness 
and shine, amid a dingy heap of defaced currency. It is a fresh 
creation, and shows what Arabia might be under better rule 
than it enjoys for the most part : an inference rendered the 
more conclusive by the fact that in natural and unaided fertility 
Djebel Shomer is perhaps the least favoured district in the 
entire central peninsula. 

We were here close under the backbone of Djebel Shomer, 
whose reddish crags rose in the strangest forms on our right and 
left, while a narrow cleft down to the plain-level below gave 
opening to the capital. Very hard to bring an army through 
this against the will of the inhabitants, thought I ; fifty 



Chap. Ill] 



Hay el and Telal 



71 



resolute men could, in fact, hold the pass against thousands: 
nor is there any other approach to. Ha'yel from the northern 
direction. The town is situated near the very centre of the 
mountains ; it was as yet entirely concealed from our view by the 
windings of the road amid huge piles of rock. Meanwhile from 
Djobbah to Ha'yel, the whole plain gradually rises, running up 
between the sierras,, whose course from north-east to south- 
west crosses two-thirds of the upper peninsula, and forms the 
outwork of the central high country. Hence the name of 
Nejed, literally "highland," in contradistinction to the coast 
ICftd the outlying provinces of lesser elevation. 

The sun was yet two hours' distance above the westei 
horizon, when we threaded the narrow and winding defile, till w< 
arrived at its further end. Here w T e found ourselves on the verge 
of a large_plain, many miles injength and breadth, and girt on 
every side by a high mounjajnjainpart, while right in front of 
us, at scarce a quarter of an hour's march, lay the town of 
Ha'yel surrounded by fortifications of about twenty feet in 
height, with bastion-towers, some round, some square, and 
large folding gates at intervals ; it offered the same show of 
freshness and even of something like irregular elegance that had 
before struck us in the villages on our way. This, however, was a 
full-grown town, and its area might readily hold three hundred 
thousand inhabitants or more, were its streets and houses close 
packed like those of Brussels or Paris. But the number of 
, citizens does not, in fact, exceed twenty or twenty-two thousand, 
\ thanks to the many large^gardens, operTspaces, and even plan- 
tations, included within the outer walls, while the immense 
1 \ palace of the monarch alone, with its pleasure grounds annexed, 
[occupies about one-tenth of the entire city. I Our attention was 
/attracted by a lofty tower, some seventy feet in height, of recent 
construction and oval form, belonging to the royal residence. 
The plain all around the town is studded with isolated houses 
and gardens, the property of wealthy citizens, or of members of 
the kingly family, and on the far-off skirts of the plain appear 
the groves belonging to Kafar, 'Adwah, and other villages, 
placed at the openings of the mountain gorges that conduct to 
the capital. The town walls and buildings shone yellow in the 
evening sun, and the whole prospect was one of thriving 
security, delightful to view, though wanting in the peculiar 






72 The Nefood and Djebel Shomer [Chap, hi 

luxuriance of vegetation offered by the valley of Djowf. A few 
Bedouin tents lay clustered close by the ramparts, and the great 
number of horsemen, footmen, camels, asses, peasants, towns- 
men, boys, women, and other like, all passing to and fro on 
their various avocations, gave cheerfulness and animation to the 
scene. 

We crossed the plain, and made for the town gate opposite 
the castle ; next, with no little difficulty, prevailed on our camels 
to pace the high-walled street, and at last arrived at the open 
space in front of the palace. It was yet an hour before sunset, 
or rather more ; the business of the day was over in Ha'yel, and 
the outer courtyard where we now stood was crowded with 
loiterers of all shapes and sizes. We made our camels kneel down 
close by the palace gate, alongside of some forty or fifty others, 
and then stepped back to repose our very weary limbs on a stone 
bench opposite the portal, and waited what might next occur. 

But before we verify the Arab proverb which attributes ill- 
luck to occurrences of the evening, let us cast around a look on this 
strange scene, strange, that is, to a foreigner, but completely in 
harmony with the genius of the country and people. Before us 
are the long earth walls of the palace, enormously thick, and about 
thirty feet in height, pierced near the summit with loopholes 
rather than windows, and occupying an extent of four hundred 
and fifty to five hundred feet in length. The principal gate is 
placed, according to approved custom, in a receding angle of the 
wall, and flanked by high square towers; semicircular bastions 
advance too from space to space all the length of the front. 
Immediately under the shadow of the wall runs a long bench of 
beaten earth and stone; we observe, too, about half-way in its 
line, a sort of throne or raised seat, to be occupied by the 
monarch's most sacred person when giving public audience. 
The palace of Meta'ab, the king's second brother, is included in 
the same mass of building, but has its own entrance apart. 

On the other side of the open area, that is, where we are now 
seated, stands a long range of warehouses and small apartments, 
each under lock and key. tEere is stowed away the merchan- 
dize which belongs exclusively to the government ; here, too, 
Telal, as a general rule, lodges his guests; for no stranger, be he 
who he may, is ever allowed to sleep within the palace walls. 
In the same direction, but farther up the area, and opposite to 



Chap, in] Hayel and Teldl 73 

the residence of Meta'ab, is the large public mosque, or Djamia'. 
At its angle the court opens out into the new market-place, 
which we will visit to-morrow. On the other side of this 
opening, but on the same line as the Djamia, rises the sump- 
tuous house of Zamil, the chief treasurer and prime minister too 
— an arrangement which at least simplifies government salaries, 
a positive advantage in poor Arab states. Lastly, a tall gate 
ends the area, and gives admittance into the more plebeian 
High Street, which liere crosses at right angles, and leads up 
and down through the whole breadth of the town. 

At the opposite extremity of this greatrtourtyard, and com- 
municating with a second gate through which we had just passed, 
enters another large street, leading out at some distance on the 
plain. Towards this end of the enclosure, and still opposite the 
palace itself, are the dwellings of two or three principal officers 
of the household; and lastly, a low door, in all "the pride that 
apes humility," gives entrance to the abode and spacious .gardens 
of 'Obeyd, the present king's uncle, a very important character 
he, and already mentioned on occasion of his first expedition 
against the Djowf. Enough of him for the present; he will end 
by becoming a personal and even too intimate an acquaintance. 

About the portal, some standing, some seated on the stone 
platform near its entrance, are several of the subordinate 
officers in waiting. These men are neatly and, all things con- 
sidered, cleanly clothed, in white robes and black cloaks, much 
like Hamood, whose dress we have not long since described ; 
long silver-tipped wands, strongly resembling those wielded by 
that venerable class of men whom mortals call Beadles, dis- 
tinguish those among them who are charged with household 
employment ; but - the greater number are of a military cha- 
racter, and wear silver-hilted swords. The neighbouring benches 
on one side of the court and on the other are thronged by a 
crowd of the better sort of citizens, come from their shops or 
houses to hear and chat over news, and to take the evening 
air. Few of them, save those of noble birth, wear arms ; but 
their general appearance is every way decorous. Some, in 
plainer clothes, have a peculiar and puritanical look, they will 
be from Nejed ; a slightly rakish air, on the contrary, points 
out the man of Kaseem. In the middle of the courtyard 
itself, or seated among the well-dressed citizens with true Arab 



74 The Nefood and Djebel S homer [Chap, hi 

fraternity and equality, are not a few whose dingy garments 
and coarse features bespeak them of mechanical profession, or 
at least poor. Some Bedouins are mixed with the rest, and 
may at once be known by their scanty ragged dress and cringing 
attitude. The lowest in the nomade scale here present are the 
uncouth Sherarat, and the still more uncouth Solibah; while 
the Shomer, near akin to many of the townsmen, and somewhat 
polished by more frequent intercourse with the civilized world, 
may stand highest in this category. 

At our first appearance a slight stir takes place. The 
customary salutations are given and returned by those nearest 
at hand ; and a small knot of inquisitive idlers, come up to see 
what and whence we are, soon thickens into a dense circle. 
Many questions are asked, first of our conductor, Djedey', and 
next of ourselves ; our answers are tolerably laconic. Mean- 
while a thin middle-sized individual, whose countenance bears 
the type of smiling urbanity and precise etiquette, befitting his 
office at court, approaches us. His neat and simple dress, the 
long silver-circled staff in his hand, his respectful salutation, his 
politely important manner, all denqte him one of the palace 
retinue. It is Seyf, the court chamberlain, whose special duty 
is the reception and presentation of strangers. V?e rise to 
receive him, and are greeted with a decorous, "Peace be with 
you, brothers," in the fullness of every inflection and accent 
that the most scrupulous grammarian could desire. We return 
an equally Priscianic salutation. "Whence have you come? 
may good attend you ! " is the first question. Of course we 
declare ourselves physicians from Syria, for our bulkier wares 
had been disposed of in the Djowf, and we were now resolved 
to depend on medical practice alone. "And what do you 
desire here in our town? may God grant you success!" says 
Seyf. " We desire the favour of God most high, and, secondly, 
that of Telal," is our answer, conforming our style to the cor- 
rectest formulas of the country, which we had already begun 
to pick up. Whereupon Seyf, looking very sweet the while, 
begins, as in duty bound, a little, encomium on his master's 
generosity and other excellent qualities, and assures us that we 
have exactly reached right quarters. 

But alas ! while my comrade and myself were exchanging 
side-glances of mutual felicitation at such fair beginnings, 



Chap, iii] Hdyel and Telal 75 

Nemesis suddenly awoke to claim her due, and the serenity of 
our horizon was at once overcast by an unexpected and most 
unwelcome cloud. My readers are doubtless already aware 
that nothing was of higher importance for us than the most 
absolute incognito, above all in whatever regarded European 
origin and character. In fact, once known for Europeans, all 
intimate access and sincerity of intercourse with the people of 
the land would have been irretrievably lost, and our onward 
progress to Nejed rendered totally impossible. These were 
the very least inconveniences that could follbw such a detection ; 
others much more disagreeable might also be well apprehended. 
Now thus far nothing had occurred capable of exciting serious 
suspicion, no one. had recognized us, or pretended to recognize. 
We, too, on our, part, had thought that Gaza, Ma'an, and per- 
haps the Djowf, were the only localities where this kind of 
recognition had to be feared. But we had reckoned without 
our host ; the first real danger was reserved for Ha'yel, within 
the very limits of Nejed, and with all the desert-bejt between 
us and our old acquaintances. "^^^^ 

For while Seyf was running through the _ preliminaries of his 
politeness, I saw to my horror amid the circle of bystanders a 
figure, a face well known to me scarce six months before in 
Damascus, and well known to many others also, now merchant, 
now trader, now post-contractor, shrewd, enterprising and active, 
though nigh fifty years- of age, and intimate with many Euro- 
peans of considerable standing in Syria and Bagdad — one, 
in short, accustomed to all kinds of men, and not to be easily 
imposed on by any. 

While I involuntarily stared dismay on my friend, and yet 
doubted if it could possibly be he, all incertitude was dispelled 
by his cheerful salutation, in the confidential tone of an aid 
acquaintance, followed by wondering enquiries as to what 
wind had blown me hither, and what I meant to do here in 
Ha'yel. 

Wishing him most heartily — somewhere else, I had nothing 
for it but to " fix a vacant stare," to give a formal return of 
greeting, and then silence. 

But misfortunes never come single. While I was thus on my 
defensive against so dangerous an antagonist in the person of 
my free and easy friend, lo ! a tall, sinister-featured individual 



76 The Nefood and Djebel S homer [Chap, hi 

comes up, clad in the dress of an inhabitant of Kaseem, and 
abruptly breaks in with, "And I too have seen him at Damas- 
cus," naming at the same time the place and date of the meet- 
ing, and specifying exactly the circumstances most calculated 
to set me down for a genuine European. 

Had he really met me as he said ? I cannot precisely say ; 
the place he mentioned was one whither men, half spies, half 
travellers, and whole intriguers from the interior districts, nay, 
even from Nejed itself, not unfrequently resort; and as I myself 
was conscious of having paid more than one visit there, my 
officious interlocutor might very possibly have been one of 
those present on some such occasion. So that although I did 
not now recognize him in particular, there was a strong intrinsic 
probability in favour of his ill-timed veracity; and his thus 
coming in to support the first witness in his assertions, rendered 
my predicament, already unsafe, yet worse. 

But ere I could frame an answer or resolve what course to 
hold, up came a third, who, by overshooting the mark, put the 
game into our hands. He too salaams me as an old friend, and 
then, turning to those around, now worked up to a most extra- 
ordinary pitch of amazed curiosity, says, "And I also know him 
perfectly well, I have often met him at Cairo, where he lives in 
great wealth in a large house near the Kasr-el-'Eynee; his name 
is 'Abd-es-Saleeb, he is married, and has a very beautiful 
daughter, who rides an expensive horse," &c. &c &c. 

Here at last was a pure invention or mistake (for I know not 
which it was) that admitted of a flat denial. " Aslahek' Allah," 
" May Heaven set you right," said I ; " never did I live at Cairo, 
nor have I the blessing of any horse-riding young ladies for 
daughters." Then, looking very hard at my second detector, 
towards whom I had all the right of doubt, " I do not remember 
having ever seen you ; think well as to what you say ; many a 
man besides myself has a reddish beard and straw-coloured 
mustachios," taking pains however not to seem particularly 
" careful to answer him in this matter," but as if merely ques- 
tioning the precise identity. But for the first of the trio I 
knew not what to do or to reply, so I continued to look at him 
with a killing air of inquisitive stupidity, as though not fully 
understanding his meaning. 

But Seyf, though himself at first somewhat staggered by this 



Chap. Ill 



If ay el and Telal 



77 



sudden downpour of recognition, was now reassured by the 
discomfiture of the third witness, and came to the convenient 
conclusion that the two others were no better worthy of credit. 
" Never mind them," exclaimed he, addressing himself to us, 
" they are talkative liars, mere gossipers ; let them alone, they 
do not deserve attention ; come along with me to the K'hawah 
in the palace, and rest yourselves." Then turning to my poor 
Damascene friend, whose only wrong was to have been over- 
much in the right, he sharply chid him, and next the rest, and 
led us off, most glad to follow the leader, through the narrow 
and dark portal into the royal residence. / 

After passing between files of wandsmen and swordsmen, 
Arabs and negroes, we entered on a small court, where, under 
a shed, was arranged the dreaded artillery of Telal, nine pieces 
in all, of different calibre, four only mounted on gun-carriages, 
and out of the four just three serviceable. Of this last number 
were the two large iron mortars that had played so important 
a pare in the siege of the Djowf. The third, a long brass field 
piece, bore the date of 1810, with a very English " G. R." 
(illegible, I need hardly say, for its actual possessors) embossed 
above. The other guns were all more or less injured, and 
quite unfit for duty, but this was a circumstance unknown to 
the Arabs around, and perhaps to Telal himself, and " all the 
nine" military muses seemed to impress equal awe on the minds 
of the beholders. This tremendous battery had been in part 
furnished by the Wahhabee monarch to 'Abd-Allah, father and 
predecessor of Telal, and in part procured by the agents of the 
present reign at the seaport of Koweyt on the Persian Gulf, an 
active and thriving little town. 

We traversed this court, and entered a second, one side of 
which was formed by the ladies' apartments, duly separated by 
a high blind wall from profane intercourse, and the other by 
the K'hawah or guest-room. This apartment was about eighty 
feet in length by thirty or more in breadth, and of height 
proportionate ; the beams of the flat roof (for vaulting is here 
unknown) rested on six large round columns in a central row. 
It was of evidently recent construction, well lighted, and per- 
fectly neat. The coffee furnace was of dimensions propor- 
tionate to those of the hall, and by its side was seated a sturdy 
negro, who rose at our approach. A few guests from the neigh- 



78 The Nefood and Djebel S homer [Chap, hi 

bouring provinces, and some of the court attendants, were 
present. Two men, whose feet were loosely chained with heavy 
iron links, shuffled about the hall. They were state prisoners, 
and condemned to incarceration at his Majesty's royal will and 
pleasure, but were permitted the entrance of the K'hawah by 
way of recreation ; a curious instance of the humanity of the 
Arab character, even in the infliction of punishment. Imagine 
how the appearance of a convicted rebel in the saloons of the 
Tuileries or of Buckingham Palace would surprise the court ! 
One of these men was a chieflet of Djowf, brought hither by 
Telal on his conquest of that district, and not yet liberated, nor 
likely to be so in a hurry. But neither he nor his companion 
looked particularly miserable. 

Here we remained whilst coffee was, as wont, prepared and 
served. Seyf, who had left us awhile, now came back to say 
that Telal would soon return from his afternoon walk in a 
garden where he had been taking the air, and that if we would 
pass into the outer court we should then and there have the 
opportunity of paying him our introductory respects. He 
added that we should afterwards find our supper ready, and be 
provided also with good lodgings for the night; finally, that 
the K'hawah and what it contained were always at our disposi- 
tion so long as we should honour Ha'yel by our presence. 

We rose accordingly and returned with Seyf to the outside 
area. It was fuller than ever, on account of the expected 
appearance df the monarch. A few minutes later we saw a 
crowd approach from the upper extremity of the place, namely, 
that towards the market. When the new-comers drew near, 
we saw them to be almost exclusively armed men, with some 
of the more important-looking citizens, but all on foot. In the 
midst of this circle, though detached from those around them, 
slowly advanced three personages, whose dress and deport- 
ment, together with the respectful distance observed by the 
rest, announced superior rank. " Here comes Telal," said Seyf, 
in an undertone. 

The midmost figure was in fact that of the prince himself. 
Short of stature, broad-shouldered, and strongly built, of a very 
dusky complexion, with long black hair, dark and piercing eyes, 
and a countenance rather severe than open, Telal might readily 
be supposed above forty years in age, though he is in fact 



Chap, hi] Hay el and Telal 79 

thirty-seven or thirty-eight at most. His step was measured, 
his demeanour grave and somewhat haughty. His dress, a 
long robe of Cachemire shawl, covered the white Arab shirt, 
and over all he wore a delicately worked cloak of camel's hair 
from 'Oman, a great rarity and highly valued in this part of 
Arabia. His head was adorned by a broidered handkerchief, in 
which silk and gold thread had not been spared, and girt by a 
broad band of camel's hair entwined with red silk, the manu- 
facture of Meshid 'Alee. A gold-mounted sword hung by his 
side, and his dress was perfumed with musk in a degree better 
adapted to Arab than to European nostrils., His glance never 
rested for a moment; sometimes it turned on his nearer com- 
panions, sometimes on the crowd ; I have seldom seen so truly 
an " eagle eye " in rapidity and in brilliancy. 

By his side walked a tall thin individual clad in garments of 
somewhat less costly material, but of gayer colours and em- 
broidery than those of the king himself. His face announced 
unusual intelligence and courtly politeness ; his sword was not, 
however, adorned with gold, the exclusive privilege of the royal 
family, but with silver only. 

This was Zamil, the treasurer and prime minister — sole 
minister, indeed, of the autocrat. Raised from beggary by 
'Abd-Allah the late king, who had seen in the ragged orphan 
signs of rare capacity, he continued to merit the uninterrupted 
favour of his patron, and after his death had become equally, or 
yet more dear to Telal, who raised him from post to post till 
he at last occupied the highest position in the kingdom after 
the monarch himself. Faithful to his master, and placed by his 
plebeian extraction beyond reach of rival family jealousy, his 
even and amiable temper had made him eminently popular 
without the palace, and as cherished by his master within, while 
his extraordinary application to business, joined with a ready 
but calm mind, and the great services he rendered the state in 
his double duty, merited, in the opinion of all, those personal 
riches of which he made a very free and munificent display. 

Of the demurely smiling 'Abd-el-Mahsin, the second com- 
panion of the king's evening walk, I will say nothing for the 
moment; we shall have him before long for a very intimate 
acquaintance and a steady friend. 

Every one stood up as Telal drew nigh. Seyf gave us a sign 



So The Nefood and Djebel Shomer [Chap, hi 

to follow him, made way through the crowd, and saluted his 
sovereign with the authorized formula of " Peace be with you, 
O the Protected of God ! " Telal at once cast on us a pene- 
trating glance, and addressed a question in a low voice to Seyf, 
whose answer was in the same tone. The prince then looked 
again towards us, but with a friendlier expression of face. We 
approached and touched his open hand, repeating the same 
salutation as that used by Seyf. No bow, hand-kissing, or other 
ceremony is customary on these occasions. Telal returned our 
greeting, and then, without a word more to us, whispered a 
moment to Seyf, and passed on through the palace gate. 

" He will give you a private audience to-morrow," said Seyf, 
" and I will take care that you have notice of it in due time ; 
meanwhile come to supper." The sun had already set when 
we re-entered the palace. This time, after passing the arsenal, 
we turned aside into a large square court, distinct from the 
former, and surrounded by an open verandah spread with mats. 
Two large ostriches, presents offered to Telal by some chiefs of 
the Solibah tribe, strutted about the enclosure, and afforded 
much amusement to the negro-boys and scullions of the esta- 
blishment. Seyf conducted us to the further side of the court, 
where we seated ourselves under the portico. 

Hither some black slaves immediately brought the supper ; 
the "piece de resistance" was, as usual, a huge dish of rice and 
boiled meat, with some thin cakes of unleavened bread and 
dates, and small onions with chopped gourds intermixed. The 
cookery was better than what we HadlieTetofore tasted, though 
it would, perhaps, have hardly passed muster with a Vatel. 
We made a hearty meal, took coffee in the K'hawah, and then 
returned to sit awhile and smoke our pipes in the open air. 
Needs not say how lovely are the summer evenings, how cool 
the breeze, how pure the sky, in these mountainous districts. 

Seyf, on his side, got our night quarters ready, and, by his 
orders, one of the king's magazines (I have already mentioned 
them) had been emptied, swept, and matted for our reception. 
My readers are, I should think, sufficiently acquainted with 
eastern customs to know that neither chairs nor tables, tubs nor 
washhand basins, can reasonably be expected. We entered our 
lodgings, closed and locked the outer door, and then fell into 
deep consultation what was next to be done; coming at last 



Chap hi] Hay el and Teldl 8 1 

to the best conclusion after a long journey; that of a sound and 
prolonged sleep. 

While we are thus, to borrow Madge Wildfire's phrase, " in 
the land of Nod," it may perhaps be well, instead of recounting 
our dreams, to gratify the curiosity of those who would desire 
to learn whether we had any further encounter with our un- 
welcome friends from the north, and what was the sequel of 
their history. Be it known, then, that the first and worthiest 
of the two, the trader-post-contractor, had been so utterly 
puzzled by our chilling " cut," and subsequently by the rebukes 
he received from Seyf and others, that he^ended in doubting 
his own eyes, and concluded that he must have made some 
strange mistake about our identity, or perhaps even his own; 
for, on the third day, when we once more came across each 
other in the street, he began a confused discourse much like 
that of the old woman in the ballad, " Oh dear me, it is not 
I," and made such very humble apologies for his past conduct, 
that I felt half disposed out of sheer pity to set his mind at 
ease with a " no mistake at all, old fellow, you were perfectly 
in the right." But prudence would not permit of this extra 
kindness ; and besides, his public abjuration produced the best 
imaginable effect on those present, so I left him to his regrets, 
in which he may be plunged up to the present day, for aught I 
know. The following morning he left Ha'yel, nor have I since 
seen him anywhere. 

For the man of Kaseem, his stay in this capital was yet 
shorter, and the next day saw him on his way home, nor 
did we again meet him ; thus his tale, true or not, fell to the 
ground for want of repetition and confirmation. 

As to the third, who had so obligingly set me up with house 
and family, he was a citizen of the town itself, and we had in 
consequence frequent interviews during the following weeks. 
But he readily gave up his unfounded pretensions to previous 
intimacy, and declared before all that he had mistaken his man. 
And thus the triple cloud, fraught with distrust and danger, 
passed away without further ill consequences, at least of a direct 
nature. But the morrow's sun is up, and we must up with him. 

Our door was yet unopened, when a low rap announces a 
visitor. My companion undoes the bolt with a " samm'," 
equivalent on these occasions to " come in." 

G 



82 The Nefood and Djebel S homer [Chap, hi 

It is 'Abd-el-Mahsin, the same whom we had seen the evening 
before as companion of Telal. He enters with a " hope I don't 
intrude " air, and begins by excusing himself for breaking in on 
us so early, asks after our health, trusts that we are somewhat 
refreshed from the fatigues of our journey; in short, makes no 
less display of politeness, though without any overdoing or 
affectation soever, than a French marquis of the old school 
could to guests newly arrived at his chateau. He then proceeds 
to enquiries about our road hither, how we had fared on the 
way, laments over the coarse manners and ill breeding of 
Bedouins, and the heat of the desert. Next he shows a great 
desire to be instructed in medicine, adding that he is not 
altogether ignorant of the healing art, and in a word directs 
his whole conversation so as to make us feel perfectly at home, 
and thus proceeds to sound us on the purport of our visit to 
IJa'yel, and who we really were. 

His appearance was certainly much in his favour, and one 
that inspired confidence, or even familiarity. He could not have 
been under fifty, but bore his years well; his complexion equal 
in fairness to that of most Italians, his eye large and intelligent, 
his features regular; in youth he must have been positively 
handsome; his person was slender and a little bent by advancing 
age ; his dress extremely neat, though unadorned ; a plain wand 
in his hand bespoke his pacific and unmilitary turn; in short, 
he had the look of a scientific or literary courtier, perhaps 
an author, certainly a gentleman. A curious half-smile, but 
partially disguised by the ceremonious gravity of a first visit, 
showed him to be no enemy to a joke, while it tempered the 
thoughtful expression of his large forehead and meaning eye. 

Such was 'Abd-el-Mahsin, the intimate friend and inseparable 
companion of the prince. He belonged to the ancient and 
noble family of 'Aleyyan, chiefs of the town and district of 
Bereydah in Kaseem. There he had once enjoyed the confidence 
of his own fellow-citizens, and the boon fellowship of Khursheed 
Basha the Egyptian governor, during the period that this latter 
held Kaseem before the final re-establishment of the Wahhabee 
dynasty. Avoiding any open part in political affairs, and 
devoting himself in appearance to literature and society, he 
was, in fact, the deepest intriguer of the province, and guided 
all the machinations of his relatives to deliver his countrv from 



Chap, hi] Hay el and Telal 83 

foreign occupation. But when a few years later 'Abd-el-Mahsin 
found that Feysul had only concurred in freeing them from the 
tyranny of Egypt in order the better to subject them to his own, 
he became once more the active though secret agent of his 
powerful family in opposing the progress of Wahhabee prepon- 
derance and rule. At last came the ruin of the 'A leyyan family, 
consummated by one of the blackest acts of perfidy that stain 
the annals of Central Arabia. 'Abd-el-Mahsin escaped the first 
fury of the massacre that destroyed most of his relatives, but was 
involved in the proscription which followed immediately after, 
and had to flee for his life. After some months of concealment 
on the outskirts of the province, finding that no hope was left 
in his native country, he took refuge with Telal, and had now 
lived for about ten years in the palace of the Shomer prince, 
first a guest, then a friend and favourite, welcomed in moments 
of relaxation on account of his gaiety, his natural elegance, and 
his extensive knowledge of Arab history and anecdote ; but 
prized in more serious hours for his shrewd advice and wise 
counsel. When on our way home a year later my companion 
and myself beguiled the long hours of horseback in the plains 
of Mosool or the hills of Orfah by passing in review the events 
of our Arabian journey, we readily agreed that from Gaza to 
Ras-el-Hadd we had not met with any one superior, or perhaps 
equal, in natural endowments and cultivated intellect to 'Abd- 
el-Mahsin 'Aleyyan. 

Hardly had he entered on conversation than we guessed, and 
rightly guessed, that he had been sent by Telal in a preparatory 
way to the audience fixed by the king for a few hours later. 
We were accordingly on our guard, and stuck perseveringly to 
Damascus, Syria, and doctoring. On any other topics started 
by our friend while beating the bush, we gave very off-hand 
answers, implying that these things did not regard us, and to a 
few hesitating questions about Egypt, and even about Europe, 
we put on an appearance of great ignorance and unconcern. 

Meanwhile it was our turn to find out everything possible 
about Telal and his real position, especially in what regarded 
the Wahhabee dynasty, and his own fashion of government. 
'Abd-el-Mahsin' s answers were naturally cautious and guarded 
enough ; yet we were able this very morning to discover much 
that we had been previously ignorant of. 

g 2 



84 The Nefood and Djebel S homer [Chap, hi 

I give the summary of what we then learnt from our friendly- 
visitor, combined with what fuller information the following 
weeks supplied. The limits of this volume will allow but few 
other specimens of Arabian history, as told by Arabs. 

This province, in common with the rest of the peninsula, 
underwent the short-lived tyranny of the first Wahhabee empire 
at the beginning of the present century, and, like many other 
districts, was but transiently affected by it. The storm soon 
blew over, and left matters pretty much where they were before. 
At this period the town of Ha'yel was already looked on as in 
a manner the capital of Djebel Shomer, a distinction which it 
owed partly to its superior size and resources, and partly to its 
central position ; yet its chiefs could not enforce their authority 
over any great distance beyond the walls of the town, at least 
in a regular way. The supreme rule was held by the family of 
Beyt 'Alee, ancient denizens of the city, and who seem to have 
fully appreciated both in theory and practice " the right divine 
of kings to govern wrong." 

But there lived then in the same town of Ha'yel a young and 
enterprising chief, of the family Rasheed, belonging to the clan 
of Dja'afer, the noblest branch of the Shomer tribe. Many of 
his near relations were Bedouins, though his own direct ancestors 
had long occupied the social position of townsmen. His name 
was 'Abd-AUah-ebn- Rasheed ; wealthy, as wealth here goes, 
high-born, and conscious of ability and vigour, he aspired to 
wrest their hitherto undisputed pre-eminence from the chiefs of 
Beyt 'Alee ; his own powerful and numerous relatives lent their 
aid to his endeavour. The inhabitants of Ha'yel favoured some 
the one and some the other party, and on the whole 'Abd-Allah's 
faction was the stronger within the walls of the capital. But 
the neighbouring village of Kefar held to a man for Beyt 'Alee, 
and Kefar was at that time almost equal in strength and popu- 
lation to Ha'yel; indeed, to judge by popular song and local 
tradition, our only guide here, Kefar was considered the more 
aristocratic town of the two. 

After many preliminary bickerings, the struggle between 'Abd- 
Allah and Beyt 'Alee began ; but the result proved unfavourable 
to the young competitor for sovereignty, and he was driven into 
exile. This happened about the year i8i8or 1820. With a 
few of his relatives, fugitives like himself, he took the rqad of 



Chap, in] IJayel and Telal 85 

the Djowf, in hopes of refuge and alliance ; but not finding either, 
he passed on to Wadi Sirhan, whose depths have ever been a 
common asylum for men in a similar predicament up to the 
present time. While he and his followers were wandering amid 
the labyrinths of the valley, they were suddenly attacked by a 
strong party of 'Anezeh Bedouins, hereditary enemies of the 
Shomer clan. 'Abd-Allah and his companions fought well, but 
numbers gained the day. The Benoo-Dja'afer fell without ex- 
ception on the field of battle; the victorious 'An ezeh "stripped 
and gashed the slain;" none of 'Abd- Allah's companions re- 
mained alive, and he himself was left for tlead amid the corpses 
on the sand. 

The 'Anezeh, as is often their wont, " made assurance doubly 
sure" by cutting the throats of the wounded where they lay on 
the ground ; and in this respect 'Abd- Allah had fared no better 
than his comrades. But the destined possessor of a throne 
was not thus to perish before his time. While he lay senseless, 
his blood fast ebbing from the gaping gash, the locusts of the 
desert, so runs the Arab tale, surrounded the chief, and with 
their wings and feet cast the hot sand into his wounds, till this 
rude styptic stayed the life-stream in its flow. Meanwhile a 
flock of Kata, a partridge-like bird common in these regions, 
hovered over him to protect him from the burning sun — a ser- 
vice for which unwounded travellers in the Arabian wilds would 
be hardly less grateful. 

A merchant of Damascus, accompanied by a small caravan, 
was on his way home to Syria from the Djowf, and chanced to 
pass close by the scene of carnage and miracle. He saw the 
wounded youth, and the wondrous intervention of Heaven in 
his behalf. Amazed at the spectacle, and conjecturing no ordi- 
nary future for one whose life was so dear to Providence, he 
alighted by his side, bound up his wounds, applied what means 
for reviving suspended animation the place and circumstances 
could allow of, placed him on one of his camels, and took him 
to Damascus. 

There 'Abd-Allah, now the charitable merchant's guest, and 
treated by him like a son, speedily recovered strength and 
vigour. His generous preserver then supplied him with arms 
and provision for the way, and sent him back with a well-stored 
girdle to Arabia once more. 



86 The Nefood and Djebel S homer • [Chap, hi 

But to Djebel Shorn er he could not return as a prince, and 
would not return as a subject. So, following a circuitous track, 
he passed on to the Inner Nejed, and there offered his services 
in quality of " condottiere " to Turkee, son of 'Abd-Allah-ebn- 
Sa'ood. Turkee was then actively engaged in reconstructing 
his father's kingdom, ruined by the Egyptian invasion, and in 
recovering one after another the provinces formerly subject to 
Wahhabee domination. From such a prince 'Abd- Allah natur- 
ally found a ready welcome, and work in abundance. He was 
the foremost in every fray, and soon became the head of a con- 
siderable division in the Wahhabee army. 

In 1830 or thereabouts, for I have been unable to procure 
from Arab negligence the exact date of this or of many other 
important incidents, Turkee resolved on the conquest of IJasa, 
one of the richest appanages of the old Nejdean crown. But 
since public affairs did not permit the withdrawing of his own 
personal presence from Ri'ad, his capital, he placed his eldest 
son Feysul at the head of the royal armies, and sent them to the 
invasion of the eastern coast. 'Abd-Allah as a matter of course 
joined the expedition, and, though a stranger by birth, was much 
looked up to by Feysul and his officers, and was almost their 
leader in all military operations. 

Hardly had the Wahhabee army reached the frontiers of 
Hasa, and, having passed the narrow defiles of Ghoweyr, where 
we too, gentle reader, will pass in due time, were just proceeding 
to lay siege to the town of Hof hoof when news reached them 
that Turkee had been treacherously assassinated during the 
evening prayers in the great mosque of the city by his own 
cousin Mesharee, and that the murderer had already occupied 
the vacant throne. 

A council of war was at once called. The " Hushais " there 
present, and they were the greater number, advised Feysul to 
continue the war in IJasa, and after the conquest of that opulent 
province, return rich with its spoils to wrest the crown from his 
usurping relative. But 'Abd- Allah, a very Ahithophel in counsel, 
observed that such delay would only serve to give Mesharee 
better leisure for collecting troops, fortifying the capital, and 
thus becoming a yet more dangerous, if not an insurmountable 
enemy. Accordingly, he insisted on Feysul' s immediate return 
with all his troops to Ri'ad, as the surest way to take Mesharee 






Chap, in] 13a y el and Telal 87 

unprepared, avenge the yet warm blood of Turkee, and secure 
the capital and the central provinces for the rightful heir. For 
what concerned Has a, its conquest could be only all the more 
certain for being a moment deferred. 

Feysul, wiser than Absalom, subscribed to 'Abd-Allah's 
opinion, and the event fully justified him. Without loss of 
time the camp was broken up, and the whole army in move- 
ment on its backward way for Ri'ad, under whose walls forced 
marches speedily brought them, while Mesharee yet imagined 
his competitor far off on the other side of the passes in the 
distant plains of Hasa. 

On the first appearance of the lawful prince, all Nejed rose 
round his banner. The capital followed the example, the gates 
were thrown open, and Feysul entered Ri'ad amid enthusiastic 
acclamations, and without striking a blow. 

But Mesharee still occupied the palace, whose high walls and 
massive outworks could stand a long siege, as sieges go in 
Arabia ; while within the fortress he had at his disposition all 
the state treasury, artillery, and ammunition, beside good store 
of provisions in case of blockade ; lastly, he was protected by a 
powerful garrison of his own retainers, well paid and well 
armed. Thus provided, he determined to hold out, and wait a 
turn of fortune. It came, but against him. 

Feysul, on his side, ordered an immediate assault on the 
fortress. It was delivered, but the thick walls and iron-bound 
gates, joined to the desperate valour of the defenders, baffled 
all efforts ; and the assailants were reduced to wait the slow 
results of a regular siege. 

This lasted twenty days without bringing material advantage 
to either party. But on the twenty-first night, 'Abd-Allah, 
desirous to bring matters to a conclusion by any means, how- 
ever hazardous, took with him two sturdy companions of his 
Shomer kinsmen, refugees like himself, and, under cover of 
darkness, went roaming round the castle walls in hopes of 
detecting some unguarded spot. At a narrow window high up 
under the battlements (it was afterwards pointed out to me 
when I was at the very place) a light was glimmering. 'Abd- 
Allah drew close underneath, took a pebble, and threw it up 
against the window. A head appeared and called out in a 
muffled tone, " Who are you % " 'Abd-Allah recognized the voice 




88 The Nefood and Djebel S homer [Chap, hi 

of an old palace retainer, long in the service of the deceased 
monarch, and his own intimate friend. He answered by his 
name. " What is your purpose 1 " said the old man. " Let us 
down a cord, and we will arrange the rest." 

Presently the rustling of a rope came down the wall. 'Abd- 
Allah and his two companions clambered up one after the other, 
and soon stood together within the palace chamber. " Where 
does Mesharee sleep 1 ?" was the ominous question. The servant 
of Turkee indicated the way. Threading the dark corridors, 
barefoot and in silence, the three adventurers reached the door 
of the usurper's bedchamber. They tried it ; it was bolted 
from within. " In the name of God ! " exclaimed 'Abd-Allah, 
and with one vigorous thrust burst the lock, and the room lay 
open. 

There lay Mesharee, with a pair of loaded pistols under his 
pillow. At the noise he started up, and saw three dark outlines 
before him. Seizing his weapons, he fired them off in quick 
succession, and the two companions of 'Abd-Allah fell, one 
dead, the other death-wounded, yet alive. But 'Abd-Allah 
remained unscathed, and rushed on his victim, sword in hand. 
Mesharee, a man of herculean size, seized the arms of his enemy 
and grappled with him. Both fell on the floor, but Mesharee 
kept firm hold on the sword-arm of 'Abd-Allah, and bent him- 
self to wrest the weapon from his hand. While thus they rolled 
together in doubtful struggle, the dying comrade of 'Abd-Allah, 
collecting his last strength, dragged himself to their side, and 
seized the wrist of Mesharee with such convulsive force, that it 
made him for an instant relax his hold. That instant 'Abd- 
Allah freed his sword, and plunged it again and again into the 
body of his antagonist, who expired without a struggle. 

Not a cry had been raised, not an alarm given. 'Abd-Allah 
cut off the head of Mesharee where he lay, and with it in his 
hand returned to the chamber where the servant of Turkee 
awaited trembling the result of the attempt. By the lamplight 
both made themselves sure that the disfigured features were 
indeed those of the usurper. Then without a moment's loss 
'Abd-Allah went to the window and, leaning out, raised his 
voice to its utmost pitch to alarm the camp of Feysul, whose 
advanced guard was not far from the palace. Several soldiers 
started up, and when they approached the wall, " Take the 



chap, iiii Hdyel and Teldl 89 

dog's head," exclaimed 'Abd-Allah, and flung his bloody trophy 
in the midst. A shout of triumph echoed throughout the city. 
Meanwhile the servant of Turkee rushed down to the outer 
palace gates, and threw them open, proclaiming Aman, or 
quarter, to all of Mesharee's retinue who would acknowledge 
Feysul for their master. A few minutes more, and Feysul 
himself stood within his father's walls, now his own. 

No resistance was offered. " God has willed it," was the 
only comment of Mesharee's followers as they presented un- 
hesitating allegiance to their new sovereign.' Feysul was now 
undisputed master throughout Nejed, ancl the circumstances 
of his accession only secured him the more the attachment of 
his subjects. 

The son of Turkee was not ungrateful to him whose intre- 
pidity had placed him on his father's throne. He openly ac- 
knowledged — an honourable proceeding in a king — the eminent 
services of 'Abd-Allah, and determined to requite his daring 
mercenary with a crown, bestowed in return for the crown thus 
acquired. To this end he named him absolute governor of his 
native province, Shomer, with right of succession, and supplied 
him with troops and all other means for the establishment of 
his rule. 

'Abd-Allah returned to Ha'yel, now no longer a proscribed 
exile, but a powerful and dreaded chieftain, with an army at 
his bidding. He soon drove out the rival family of Beyt 'Alee 
from the town, where his own authority was henceforth supreme. 
Here he fixed his residence, while he intrusted the fulness of 
his vengeance on the ill-fated chieftains of Beyt 'Alee to his 
younger brother 'Obeyd, "the Wolf," to give him the name by 
which he is commonly known, a name well earned by his 
unrelenting cruelty and deep deceit. The Beyt 'Alee, after a 
flight into Kaseem, were cut off root and branch ; one child 
alone, hidden in a small village on the outskirts of Kaseem, 
escaped the slayers. When Tela! years after ascended the 
throne, he sent for the lad, the only representative now sur- 
viving of his hereditary enemies, gave him estates and riches, 
and installed him in a handsome dwelling within the capital 
itself, thus with rare but politic generosity obviating the last 
chances of a rival faction. 

'Abd-Allah's'main care, meanwhile, was to consolidate his 



90 The Nefood and Djebel Shomer [Chap, hi 

power in Djebel Shomer itself. Before long he saw himself 
sole master of the whole mountain district. But beyond 'Aja' 
and Solma his sway did not extend, and the conquests made 
by his brother in the south were according to the previous 
stipulation given over to the Wahhabee monarch. 'Abd-Allah 
too all his lifetime paid a stated tribute to Feysul, of whom he 
was in fact a mere viceroy, while, the more to ensure the 
support of his powerful neighbour and jealous benefactor, he 
caused the Wahhabee religion to be recognized officially for 
that of the new state, and encouraged the Nejdean Metow'wa'as 
(a term already explained) in their zeal for the extirpation of 
the many local superstitious practices still observed in Djebel 
Shomer. He did not, however, neglect the while to strengthen 
his own national influence, and to this end he had at an early 
period contracted a marriage alliance with a powerful chieftain's 
family of Dja'afer, his near kinsman by blood. Strong in the 
support of this restless clan, who cared little about Wahhabee 
dogmas and enactments which they well knew could never 
reach them, he subdued with their help the rivalry of town and 
country nobles, and gratified at once his own ambition and the 
rapacity of his Bedouin allies by the measures that crushed his 
domestic enemies and ensured his pre-eminence. Plots were 
formed against him, broken, and formed again; hired assassins 
dogged him in the streets, open rebellion broke out in the pro- 
vince, but 'Abd-AUah escaped every danger and prostrated 
every opponent, till his " star," less fickle if less famous than 
that of the Corsican, became a proverb for good fortune in 
Shomer ; it was no other than his own calculating courage and 
inflexible resolve. Yet his memory is scarcely a favourite with 
the citizens of Ha'yel, little disposed to sympathize with Wah- 
habees and Bedouins ; and the weight of the new government 
pressed heaviest, as needs was, on the best and most thriving 
portion of the general population. 

Towards the latter part of his reign 'Abd- Allah took a mea- 
sure eminently calculated, at least under the actual circum- 
stances, to secure the permanence of his dynasty. Hitherto 
he had dwelt in a quarter of the capital which the old chieftains 
and the nobility had mainly chosen for their domicile, and 
where the new monarch was surrounded by men his equals in 
birth and of even more ancient title to command. But now. he 



Chap. Ill] 



If a! y el and Telal 



91 



added a new quarter to the town, and there laid the foundations 
of a vast palace destined for the future abode of the king and 
the display of all his grandeur, amid streets and nobles of his 
own creation. The walls of the projected edifice were fast 
rising when he died, almost suddenly, in 1844 or 1845, leaving 
three sons, Telal, Meta'ab, and Mohammed, the eldest scarce 
twenty years of age, besides his only surviving brother 'Obeyd, 
who could not then have been much under fifty. 

Telal was already highly popular, much more so than his 
father, and had given early tokens of those /Superior qualities 
which accompanied him to the throne. All parties united to 
proclaim him sole heir to the kingdom and lawful successor to 
the regal power, and thus the rival pretensions of 'Obeyd, hated 
by many and feared by all, were smothered at the outset and 
put aside without a contest. 

The young sovereign possessed, in fact, all that Arab ■ ideas 
require to ensure good government and lasting popularity. 
Affable towards the common people, reserved and haughty with 
the aristocracy, courageous and skilful in war, a lover of com- 
merce and building in time of peace, liberal even to profusion, 
yet always careful to maintain and augment the state revenue, 
neither over-strict nor yet scandalously lax in religion, secret 
in his designs, but never known to break a promise once given, 
or violate a plighted faith; severe in administration, yet averse 
to bloodshed, he offered the very type of what an Arab prince 
should be. I might add, that among all rulers or governors, 
European or Asiatic, with whose acquaintance I have ever 
chanced to be honoured, I know few equal in the true art of 
government to Telal, son of 'Abd-Allah-ebn-Rasheed. 

His first cares were directed to adorn and civilize the capital. 
Under his orders, enforced by personal superintendence, the 
palace commenced by his father was soon brought to completion. 
But he added, what probably his father would hardly have 
thought of, a long row of warehouses, the dependencies and 
property of the same palace ; next he built a market-place con- 
sisting of about eighty shops or magazines, destined for public 
commerce and trade, and lastly constructed a large mosque for 
the official prayers of Friday. Round the palace, and in many 
other parts of the town, he opened streets, dug wells, and 
laid out extensive gardens, besides strengthening the old fortiS- 



92 The Nefood and Djebel S homer [Chap, hi 

cations all round and adding new ones. At the same time he 
managed to secure at once the fidelity and the absence of his 
dangerous uncle by giving him charge of those military expedi- 
tions which best satisfied the restless energy of 'Obeyd. The 
first of these wars was directed, I % know not on what pretext, 
against Kheybar. But as Tela! intended rather to enforce sub- 
mission than to inflict ruin, he associated with 'Obeyd in the 
military command his own brother Meta'ab, to put a check on 
the ferocity of the former. Kheybar was conquered, and Telal 
sent thither, as governor in his name, a young man of Ha'yel, 
prudent and gentle, whom I subsequently met when he was on 
a visit at the capital. 

Not long after, the inhabitants of Kaseem, weary of Wahha- 
bee tyranny, turned their eyes towards Telal, who had already 
given a generous and inviolable asylum to the numerous politi- 
cal exiles of that district. Secret negotiations took place, and 
at a favourable moment the entire uplands of that province — 
after a fashion not indeed peculiar to Arabia — annexed them- 
selves to the kingdom of Shomer by universal and unanimous 
suffrage. Telal made suitable apologies to the Nejdean monarch, 
the original sovereign of the annexed district; he could not re- 
sist the popular wish; it had been forced on him, &c. &c. &c. > — 
but Western Europe is familiar with the style. Feysul felt 
the inopportuneness of a quarrel with the rapidly growing 
power to which he himself had given origin only a few years 
before, and, after a wry face or two, swallowed the pill. Mean- 
while Telal, knowing the necessity of a high military reputation 
both at home and abroad, undertook in person a series of 
operations against Teyma' and its neighbourhood, and at last 
against the Djowf itself. Everywhere his arms were successful, 
and his moderation in victory secured the attachment of the 
vanquished themselves. 

Other expeditions of minor consequence, but always fortunate 
in their result, were headed by Telal; while 'Obeyd is said to 
have taken the field above forty times. These military doings, 
in which there was often more display than slaughter, were 
principally directed against the Bedouins, who occupied, as a 
glance at the map will show, a very large portion of TelaTs do- 
mains, and whom that prince made it his capital business to 
put down everywhere. With the nomades of the outer districts 



Chap, in] ffd'yel and Telal 93 

he had no great difficulty; but he found much more with his 
own kinsmen and near neighbours, the Arabs of Shomer. 

In order to carry out his views for enriching the country by 
the benefits of free and regular commerce, security on the high 
roads and the cessation of plundering forays were indispensable. 
Now the tribe of Dja'afar, his own blood relations, had grown 
especially insolent through the favour of 'Abd-AUah, whose in- 
struments they had been in subduing the towns and villages of 
the mountain. Telal, who had not the same need of them, 
played his father's game backwards, subduing these same 
Bedouins by the means of the very populations whom they had 
formerly oppressed, and who were naturally eager for their turn 
of revenge; while the quarrels of the clansmen among them- 
selves afforded him frequent occasion for setting them one 
against another, till, weakened and divided, they all in com- I 
mon submitted to his yoke. " Divide et impera," is a maxim | 
known to Arab, no less than to European statesmanship, J 
Henceforth no Bedouin in Djebel Shomer, or throughout tlW 
whole kingdom, could dare to molest traveller or peasant. 

This obstacle removed, Telal applied himself with character- 
istic vigour and good sense to the execution of more pacific 
projects. Merchants from Basrah, from Meshid 'Alee and 
Wasit, shopkeepers from Medinah .and even from Yemen, were 
invited by liberal offers to come and establish themselves in 
the new market of Ha'yel. With some Telal made govern- 
ment contracts equally lucrative to himself and to them; to 
others he granted privileges and immunities; to all protection 
and countenanoe. Many of these traders belonged to the 
Shiya'a sect, hated by all good Sonnites, doubly hated by the 
Wahhabees. But Telal affected not to perceive their religious 
discrepancies, and silenced all murmurs by marks of special 
favour towards these very dissenters, and also by the advantages 
which their presence was not long in procuring for the town. 
The desired impulse was given, and IJa'yel became a centre of 
trade and industry, and many of its inhabitants followed the ex- 
ample of the foreigners thus settled among them, and rivalled 
them in diligence and in wealth* 

All this, however, could not but irritate the Wahhabee faction 
of the country, at whose head stood the sanguinary fanatic 
'Obeyd. Feysul, too, already annoyed by the Kaseem annexa- 



94 The Nefood and Djebel S homer [Chap, hi 

tion, now sent forth from his Nejdean fastnesses loud protesta- 
tions against the laxity of his "brother," Telal. Besides, 
horrible to Wahhabee thought and hearing, Telal was rumoured 
to indulge in the heretical pleasure of tobacco, to wear silk, and 
to be very seldom seen in the mosque ; though indeed it might 
be charitably hoped that he said his prayers at home. Lastly, 
and this was no good sign in Wahhabee eyes, he showed much 
more disposition to pardon prisoners or criminals than to be 
head them ; and the encouragement he gave to commerce did 
not seem, from their point of view, consistent with the character 
of a true Muslim. 

In spite of all Telal steadily pursued his way, while his dex- 
terous prudence threw over these enormities a veil sufficient for 
decency, if not for absolute concealment. If he smoked, it 
was only in private, and by way of remedy, prescribed by the 
best physicians, for some occult disease, which admitted of no 
other means of cure ; no sooner shall the malady be removed, 
than he will give it up. If he harboured Shiya'as, it was that 
they had to his own personal knowledge declared themselves 
jrincere converts to the Sonnee creed. The commerce of Ha'yel 
was not his, but the work of private individuals, with whom, 
much to his regret, he could not interfere. What excuse he 
made for his unorthodox leniency in war and judgment I did 
not hear, but I doubt not that it was a plausible one. And 
finally, if he was obliged by business to absent himself some- 
times from the mosque, he always took care that his uncle or 
some one of the family should be there to represent him : — 



I Ne'er went to church, 'twas such a busy life ; 
I But duly sent his family and wife. 



But ab6ve and besides apologies, judicious presents despatched 
from time to time to the Nejed, and an alliance brought about 
with one of Feysul's numerous daughters, went far to appease 
the Wahhabee. In his own kingdom also Telal made suitable 
concessions to orthodox zeal. The public sale of tobacco was 
prohibited;, and if any went on in a contraband way in back 
shops or under private roofs, government could not be held 
responsible. Although silk was tolerated for wear, orders were 
given that the ungodly material should be mixed with so much 
cotton as to render it no longer an object of strict and legal 



Chap, hi] Hatyel and Telal 95 

animadversion. In the capital, where Nejdean spies often 
came, the inhabitants were requested to pay fitting attendance 
on public prayers, and the mosque became tolerably full. 
Besides 'Obeyd was so regular and devout, so far from the 
abominations of silk and tobacco, so frequent in long recita- 
tions of the Coran and invectives against infidels, that his good 
example might almost atone for and cover the scandals given 
by his nephew, and yet more by Meta'ab, a very " wild young 
man," whose eternal N arghee lah and si lken d ress, unsanctified \ 
by a single thread of^ottonTlshockecrpious noses and eyes, \ 
and constituted a crime of which said one day a Nejdean /\ 
Metow'waa', pointing to the gayjiead-dress of the prince, " all 
other wickedness may be forgiven, but that never." Whereon 
Meta r ab, in a towering passion, turned the over-zealous censor 
unceremoniously out of doors. I return to Telal. 

Towards his own subjects his conduct is uniformly of a na- 
ture to merit their obedience and attachment, and few sovereigns 
have here met with better success. Once a day, often twice, he 
gives public audience, hears patiently, and decides in person, 
the minutest causes with great good sense. To the Bedouins, 
no insignificant portion of his rule, he makes up for the restraint 
he imposes, and the tribute he levies from them, by a profusion 
of hospitality not to be found elsewhere in the whole of Arabia 
from 'Akabah to 'Aden. His guests at the midday and evening 
meal are never less than fifty or sixty, and I have often counted 
up to two hundred at a banquet, while presents of dress and 
arms are of frequent if not of daily occurrence. It is hard for 
Europeans to estimate how much popularity such conduct 
brings an Asiatic prince. Meanwhile the townsfolk and villa- 
gers love him for the more solid advantages of undisturbed 
peace at home, of flourishing commerce, of extended dominion, 
and military glory. v 

To capital punishment he is decidedly adverse, and the 
severest penalty with which he has hitherto chastised political- 
offences is banishment or prison, Indeed, even in cases of I 
homicide or murder, he has been known not unfrequently to 
avail himself of the option allowed by Arab custom between a ( 
fine and retaliation, and to buy off the offender, by bestowing 
on the family of the deceased the allotted price of blood from 
his own private treasury, and that from a pure motive of 



g6 The Nefood and Djebel S homer [Chap, hi 

humanity. When execution does take place, it is always by 
beheading ; nor is indeed any other mode of putting to death 
customary in Arabia. Stripes, however, are not uncommon, 
though administered on the broad back, not on the sole- of the 
foot. They are the common chastisement for minor offences, 
like stealing, cursing, or quarrelling ; in this last case both 
parties usually come in for their share. 

/ With his numerous retainers he is almost over-indulgent, and 
//readily pardons a mistake or a negligence ; falsehood alone he 
jl never forgives ; and it is notorious that whoever has once lied 
Nip Telal must give up all hopes of future favour. 

In private life he relaxes much of his official gravity ; laughs, 
jokes, chats, enjoys poetry and tales, and smokes, but only in 
presence of his more intimate friends. He has three wives, 
taken each and all, it would seem, from some political motive. 
One is the daughter of Feysul, the Wahhabee monarch, a 
second belongs to a noble family of Ha'yel, a third is from 
among his kinswomen of the tribe of Dja'afar ; thus in a way 
conciliating three different interests, but uniting them in one 
household. He has three sons : the eldest named Bedr, a clever 
and handsome lad of twelve or thereabouts; the second, Bander; 
the third is 'Abd-Allah, a very pretty and intelligent child of 
five or six. He has some daughters, too, but I do not know 
their number, for here, as elsewhere in the East, they are looked 
on as something rather to be ashamed of than otherwise, and 
accordingly are never mentioned. 

Such is Telal. His reign has now lasted nearly twenty years, 
and hitherto with unvaried and well-deserved prosperity. He 
has gone far to civilize the most barbarous third of the Arabian 
continent, and has established law and security where they had 
been unknown for ages past. We shall now see him in a more 
intimate and personal point of view. 

'Abd-el-Mahsin stayed with us awhile, and then left us, saying 
that the public audience of the day was drawing nigh, and that 
his attendance there would be expected ; for ourselves we were 
to be admitted immediately afterwards to a private interview. 
Meanwhile we may reasonably conjecture that he went to tell 
Telal of his own espionage, and conjectures regarding the Syrian 
adventurers. 

The sun was now tolerably high in heaven ; but as the long 



Chap, in] Hdyel and Telal 97 

palace wall faced the west, the seats beneath it and even a good 
part of the courtyard were yet in shade. When morning 
advanced this space gradually filled up with groups of citizens, 
countrymen, and Bedouins, some to despatch business, others 
merely as lookers on. About nine, if I judged correctly of the 
time from the solar altitude, Telal, "dressed in all his best," 
and surrounded by a score of armed attendants, with his third 
brother Mohammed at his side (for the second, Meta'ab, was 
absent from IJa'yel, nor did he return till some days later), 
issued in due state and gravity from the palace portal, and took 
his seat on the raised dais in the centre against the wall. 'Abd- 
el-Mahsin and Zamil placed themselves close by, while officers 
and attendants, to the number of sixty or thereabouts, filled up 
the line. Immediately in front of Telal, but squatted on the 
bare ground, were our Sherarat companions, the 'Azzam chiefs, 
every one with his never-failing camel-switch in his hand ; 
around and behind sat or stood a crowd of spectators, for the 
occasion was one of some solemnity. 

The audience lasted about half an hour, during which the 
'Azzam chieftains or ragamuffins presented their coarse Bedouin 
submission, much like runaway hounds crouching before their 
whipper-in, when brought back to the kennel and the lash. 
Telal accepted it, though without giving them to understand 
his own personal intentions respecting them and their clans- 
men, and detained them for several days without any decisive 
answer, thus affording them suitable leisure to experience the 
profusion of his hospitality, and to become yet more deeply 
impressed with the display of his power. \ 

" The Arab's understanding is in his eyes,') is here a common\ \ 
proverb, and current among all, whether Bedouins or townsmen. 
It implies, " the Arab judges of things as he sees them present \ 
before him, not in their causes or consequences : " keen and 
superficial. This is eminently true of the Bedouins, though 
more or less of every Arab whatsoever; it is also true in a 
measure of all children, even European, who in this resemble 
not a little the "gray barbarian." A huge palace, a few large 
pieces of artillery, armed men in gay dresses, a copious supper, 
a great crowd, there are no better arguments for persuading 
nomades into submission and awe ; and one may feel perfectly 
safe that they will never inquire too deeply whether the cannon 

H 



98 The Nefood and Djebel Shomer tchap. hi 

are serviceable, the armed men faithful, the income of the 
treasury sure, or the supper of wholesome digestion. This 
Telal knows right well, and in this he seems to have the 
advantage over many who have attempted to establish their 
influence, partial or total, over the Arab race. 

Other minor affairs are now concluded ; the levee is at last 
over, Telal rises, and, accompanied by Zamil, Mohammed, 
Sa'eed (his head cavalry officer), a Meshid merchant named 
Hasan, and two or three others, slowly moves off towards the 
farther end of the court where it joins the market-place. Seyf 
comes up to us, and bids us follow. 



High Ho Lis 






fr 



V> 



V 



& 



Obeyd*s wusdry fwuse 



flood uo'tfog*. 



Ope.ro -P{,a,6rv 



to 



w«' 



isoica&liHai m 



mm 



PI a 



in 



1 IeJjU^ Fhlace 
/.' OvclL Tower 

2. Meta'ab's Palace 

3. Court yard, ui /io/U 

4. 'Cbeyd's fblace, 



\ 5. Public Mosque, 
5. Market, Pla^e 

7 . Idmils Amuse 

8. Palace Gardens 
9 Hig/v Street, 






10. Cem 

it Jbt 

12 Qua 

13 Ov 

14 Do. 



:W.C. 



99 



CHAPTER IV 

Life in Ha'yel 

/ 

Ueberall regt sich Bildung und Steepen, 
Alles will sich mit Farben beleben, 
Doch an Blumen fehlt's in Revier, 
Sie nimmt geputzte Menschen dafur. 
Kehre dich um von diesen Hohen 
Nach der Stadt zuriick zu sehen. — Go the 

Private Audience of Telal—HLs Suspicions — Our House — We begin Doctoring 
— Plait of Life and Action — Our Daily Life — A Walkout of Town ; View 
Pound Hayel — Market-place Early — Visitors and Patients — ' Ojeyl and 
his Brother — ' Abd-el-Mahsin and Telal's Three Children — Mohammed -el- 
Kadee — Peasant of Mogah — Doheym — ICaseem Lmmigration — Market near 
Noon — Lnterior of Lid? y el — Dokeyiris House and Family — A Fever Case — 
Walk through the Town — Mirage — Prayers of the Agr and Sermon — 
Purity of Elocution in Ha'yel — feldl at the Mosque — His Afternoon Au- 
diences — The Emeer Rosheyd — LDohey's House and Family — Literary Meet- 
ings in a Garden — Evenings at Hdyel — New Course of Events — Third 
Intervitw with Tefal — A Shomer Passport — ' Obeyd's Letter on our Account 
to 'Abd- Allah at Riad — Reasons for leaving Hayel — Oar Guides for 
Kaseem — Far tw ell Visits of ''Abd-el-Mahsin, Zamil, and Others — Mutual 
Regrets — We quit Lfciyel. 

Telal once free from the mixed crowd, pauses a moment till 
we rejoin him. The simple and customary salutations are given 
and returned. I then present him with our only available 
testimonial, the scrap written by Hamood from the Djowf. He 
opens it, and hands it over to Za.mil, better skilled in reading 
than his master. Then laying aside all his wonted gravity, and 
assuming a good-humoured smile, he takes my hand in his right 
and my companion's in his left, and thus walks on with us 
through the court, past the mosque, and down the market- 
place, while his attendants form a moving wall behind and on 
either side. 

He was in his own mind thoroughly persuaded that we were, 
as we appeared, Syrians ; btit imagined, nor was he entirely in 
the wrong thus far, that we had other objects in view than mere 

H 2 



\#*'< . 



3 P 



FX*AN <w HAYEL. 




/. 1>M/J' /i/a/r i 5 Public Mosque. 

/.' Oval Tower I £ Market, PUux 

2. Meta.'ab's rajatc ? J.tmuls hjTuse 

3. Gturt. yai-d, uj tro/U 8 VgUac€> Gardesbs 
4 Y'heycCs /bloc* I 9 High, Street, 



10. Central- Square 

ft Jbd el Ma/tsihs houivr 

12. Quarter of the, old, (own. 

13 Ottte/- quarter of toelowjv 

Pt lloheymls house- 



IS. feheys house 

16 Gardens withui. the. Hails 

17 'Ojeyl's house 



19 Mew quartet' 

20 Gate, leading to the D/ow/ Road, 
21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29 otAcr gates 
30. Our own house- 

■II K'hthwaA.sceneof ' Telals first audience. 



i.l.i.ll. LouduiiWC 



I0O Life in Hay el [Chap, iv 

medical practice. But if he was right in so much, he was less 
fortunate in the interpretation he chose to put on our riddle, 
having imagined that eur real scope must be to buy horses for 
some government, of which we must be the agents ; a conjecture 
which had 'certainly the merit of plausibility. However, Telal 
had, I believe, no doubt on the matter, and had already deter- 
mined to treat us well in the horse business, and to let us have 
a good bargain, as it shortly appeared. 

Accordingly he began a series of questions and cross-questions, 
all in a jocose way, but so that the very drift of his inquiries 
soon allowed us to perceive what he really esteemed us. We, 
following our previous resolution, stuck to medicine, a family 
in want, hopes of good success under the royal patronage, and 
much of the same tenor. But Telal was not so easily to be 
blinkered, and kept to his first judgment. Meanwhile we passed 
down the street, lined with starers at the king and us, and at 
last arrived at the outer door of a large house near the farther 
end of the Sook or market-place ; it belonged to Hasan, the 
merchant from Meshid 'Alee. 

Three of the retinue stationed themselves by way of guard at 
the street door, sword in hand. The rest entered with the king 
a,nd ourselves; we traversed the courtyard, where the remainder 
of the armed men took position, while we went on to the 
K'hawah. It was small, but well furnished and carpeted. Here 
Telal placed us amicably by his side in the highest place ; his 
brother Mohammed and five or six others were admitted, and 
seated themselves each according to his rank, while Hasan, 
being master of the house, did the honours. 

Coffee was brought and pipes lighted. Meantime Ebn- 
Rasheed renewed his interrogatory, skilfully throwing out side 
remarks, now on the government of Syria, now on that of Egypt, 
then on the Bedouins to the north of Djowf, or on the tribes of 
Hejaz or the banks of Euphrates, thus to gain light whence and 
to what end we had in fact come. Next he questioned us on 
medicine, perhaps to discover whether we had the right pro- 
fessional tone ; then on horses, about which same noble animals 
we affected an ignorance unnatural and very unpardonable in an 
Englishman ; but for which I hope afterwards to make amends 
to my readers. All was in vain ; and after a full hour our 
noble friend had only managed by his cleverness to get himself 






Chap, ivj North Central Arabia 101 

farther off the right track than he had been at the outset. He 
felt it, and determined to let matters have their OAvn course, 
and to await the result of time. So he ended by assuring us 
of his entire confidence and protection, offering us to boot a 
lodging on the palace grounds. But this we declined, being 
desirous of studying the country as it was in itself, not through 
the medium of a court atmosphere ; so we begged that an abode 
might be assigned us as near the market-place as possible : and 
this he promised, though evidently rather put out by our inde- 
pendent ways. 

Excellent water-melons, ready peeled andcut up, with peaches 
hardly ripe, for it was the beginning of^the season, were now 
brought in, and we all partook in common. This was the 
signal for breaking up; Telal renewed his proffers of favour/ 
and patronage; and we were at last reconducted to our lodgings 
by one of the royal guard. 

Seyf now went in search of a permanent dwelling-place Qj\jQkji 
wherein to instal us ; and before evening succeeded in finding f 
one situated in a street leading at right angles to the markeOWt/ 1 ^^ A- ^ 
and at no unreasonable distance from the palace. The house] <o_ *lXnj^ 
itself consisted of two apartments, separated by an unroofed 
court, with an outer door opening on the road ; over the rooms 
was a flat roof surrounded by a veryjtrjgh parapet, thus making 
an excellent sleeping-place for summer. The locality had been 
occupied by one of the palace retinue, Koseyn-el-Misree, who 
at Seyfs bidding evacuated the premises m our favour, and : 
moved off to take up his quarters in the neighbourhood. We 
examined the dwelling-place, and found it tolerably convenient r 
the rooms were each about sixteen feet in length by eight or 
nine in breadth, and of corresponding height ; one of them 
might officiate as a store-room and kitchen, while the other 
should be fitted up for a dwelling apartment. It was the zenith 
of the dog-days, and a bedchamber would have been a mere 
superfluity; the roof and open air were every way preferable, 
nor had we to fear intrusion, the court-walls being sixteen feet 
high or more. Every door was provided with its own distinct 
lock; the keys here are made of iron, and in this respect Ha'yel 
has the better of any other Arab' town it was my chance to 
visit, where the keys were invariably wooden, and thus very 
liable to break and get out of order. 



; 




I02 Life in Ha!yel [Chap, iv 

Before nightfall we had transferred all our goods and chattels 
to our new abode, and taken leave of Seyf, who, sweetly smiling, 
informed us that whenever we chose to take our meals at the 
palace we should always find them ready, and that our present 
lodgings were entirely at the king's cost, whose guests we were 
accordingly to consider ourselves, however long our stay might 
prove. We begged him to express our gratitude to Telal, and 
once arrived " at home," shut the street door, and made sun- 
dry arrangements, the result of which shall be visible on the 
morrow. 

Next morning, the 29th of July, about an hour after sunrise, 
the loiterers of the town — and they are numerous here as those 
who ever hung on the bridge at Coventry — had in us and our 
dwelling a new centre ~6T curiosity and attraction. This was 
just what we wanted ; so our outer door had been purposely left 
open, and the interior spectacle displayed to the delighted 
beholders. 

Round the walls of the courtyard and following the shade 
/ they afforded, we had arranged ends of carpet, empty saddle- 
bags, and the like, for the convenience of whoever might come 
to visit or consult the great doctor; I beg pardon of the 
medical faculty for my assumed title. The inner room on the 
left of the court had been decently carpeted, and there I sat in 
cross-legged state, with a pair of scales before me, a brass 
mortar, a glass ditto, and fifty or sixty boxes of drugs, with a 
small flanking line of bottles. Two Arab books of medical 
science by my side answered all the purposes of a diploma ; of 
English or French " vade-mecums " I had but two, and they 
were concealed behind the cushion at the back, to be consulted 
in secret, if necessary. My companion, who did his best to 
look like a doctor's serving-man, sat outside near the door; 
his duty was to enquire of comers-in what they wanted, and 
to admit them one by one to the professional sanctuary. In 
\ the opposite room, to the right, a cauldron, a pile of wood, two 
or three melons, bread, dates, and so forth, promised some- 
thing better than the purgatives and emetics on the left. We 
had, of course, put on our Sunday's best, that is, clean shirts, 
a more decent head-gear, and an upper garment or Combaz — 
Zaboon they here style it — in England it would pass for a 
flowered dressing-gown. Such was our appearance on setting 



chap, iv] North Central Arabia 103 

up business in IJa'yel, while we awaited the first onset of its 
custom. 

Nor had we long to wait. The courtyard was soon thronged 
with visitors, some from the palace, others from the town. One 
had a sick relation, whom he begged us to come and see, 
another some personal ailment, a third had called out of mere 
politeness or curiosity ; in short, men of all conditions and of 
all ages, but for the most part open and friendly in manner, so 
that we could already anticipate a very speedy acquaintance 
with the town and whatever it contained. 

The nature of our occupations now led to a certain daily 
routine, though it was often agreeably diversified by incidental 
occurrences. Perhaps a leaf taken at random from my journal, 
now regularly kept, may serve to set before my readers a 
tolerable sample of our ordinary course of life and society at 
IJa'yel, while it will at the same time give a more distinct idea 
of the town and people than we have yet supplied. It is, 
besides, a pleasure to retrace the memories of a pleasant time, 
and such on the whole was ours here; and I trust that the 
reader will not be wholly devoid of some share in my feelings. 

Be it, then, the 10th of August, whose jotted notes I will put 
together and fill up the blanks. I might equally have taken 
the 9th or the nth, they are all much the same ; but the day 
I have chosen looks a little the closer written of the two, and 
for that sole reason I prefer giving it. 

On that day, then, in 1862, about a fortnight after our es- 
tablishment at Ha yel, and when we were, in consequence, fully 
inured to our town existence, Seleem Abou Mahmood-el-'Eys 
and Barakat-esh-Shamee, that is, my companion and myself, 
rose, not from our beds, for we had none, but^JE08*-Qur roof- 
spreaji carpets, and took advantage of the silent hour of the 
first faint dawn, while the stars yet kept watch in the sky over 
the slumbering inhabitants of Shomer, to leave the house for a 
cool and undisturbed walk ere the sun should arise and man go 
forth unto his work and to his labour. We locked the outer 
door, and then passed into the still twilight gloom down the 
cross-street leading to the market-place, which we next followed 
up to its farther or south-western end, where large folding-gates 
separate it from the rest of the town. The wolfish city-dogs, 
whose bark and bite too render walking the streets at night a 



104 Life in If a! y el [Chap, iv 

rather precarious business, now tamely stalked away in the 
gloaming, while here and there a crouching camel, the packages 
yet on his back, and his sleeping driver close by, awaited the 
opening of the warehouse at whose door they had passed the 
night. Early though it was, the market-gates were already un- 
closed, and the guardian sat wakeful in his niche. On leaving 
the market we had yet to go down a broad street of houses 
and gardens cheerfully intermixed, till at last we reached the 
western wall of the town, or, rather, of the new quarter added 
by 'Abd-Allah, where the high portal between round flanking 
towers gave us issue on the open plain, blown over at this hour 
by a light gale of life and coolness. To the west, but some 
four or five miles distant, rose the serrated mass of Djebel 
Shorn er, throwing up its black fantastic peaks, now reddened 
by the reflected dawn, against the lead-blue sky. Northward 
the same chain bends round till it meets the town, and then 
stretches away for a length of ten or twelve days' journey, 
gradually losing in height on its approach to Meshid 'Alee and 
the valley of the Euphrates. On our south we have a little 
isolated knot of rocks, and far off the extreme ranges of Djebel 
Shomer or 'Aja', to give it its historical name, intersected by 
the broad passes that lead on in the same direction to Djebel 
Solma. Behind us lies the capital. Telal's palace, with its 
high oval keep, houses, gardens, walls, and towers, all coming 
out black against the ruddy bars of eastern light, and behind, 
a huge pyramidical peak almost overhanging the town, and 
connected by lower rocks with the main mountain range to 
north and south, those stony ribs that protect the central heart 
of the kingdom. In the plain itself we can just distinguish by 
j the doubtful twilight several blackish patches irregularly scat- 
tered over its face, or seen as though leaning upward against 
its craggy verge; these are the gardens and country-houses of 
'Obeyd and other chiefs, besides hamlets and villages, such as 
Kefar and 'Adwah, with their groves of palm and " Ithel" (the 
Arab larch), now blended in the dusk. One solitary traveller 
on his camel, a troop of jackals sneaking off to their rocky 
caverns, a few dingy tents of Shomer Bedouins, such are the 
last details of the landscape. Far away over the southern hills 
beams the glory of Canopus, and announces a new Arab year; 
the pole-star to the north lies low over the mountain tops. 



Chap. IV] 



North Central Arabia 



105 



We pace the pebble-strewn flat to the south, till we leave 
behind us the length of the town wall, and reach the little cluster 
of rocks already mentioned. We scramble up to a sort of niche 
near its summit, whence, at a height of a hundred feet or more, ..- £ 
we can overlook the whole extent of the plain and wait the sun- 
rise. Yet before the highest crags of Shomer are gilt with its 
first rays, or the long giant shadows of the easterly chain have 
crossed the level, we see groups of peasants, who drawing their 
fruit and vegetable-laden asses before them, issue like little 
bands of ants from the mountain gorges around, and slowly 
approach on the tracks converging to tjie 'capital. Horsemen 
from the town ride out to the gardens, and a long line of camels 
on the westerly Medinah road winds up towards Ha'yel. We 
wait ensconced in our rocky look-out and enjoy the view till the 
sun has risen, and the coolness of the night air warms rapidly 
into the sultry day; it is time to return. So we quit our/ 
solitary perch, and descend to the plain, where keeping inl 
the shadow of the western fortifications we regain the town 
gate and thence the market. There all is now life and move- 
ment; some of the warehouses, filled with rice, flour, spices, or 
coffee, and often concealing in their inner recesses stores of the 
prohibited American weed, are already open ; we salute the 
owners while we pass, and they return a polite and friendly 
greeting. Camels are unloading in the streets, and Bedouins 
standing by, looking anything but at home in the town. The 
shoemaker and the blacksmith, those two main props of Arab 
handicraft, are already at their work, and some gossiping by- 
standers are collected around them. At the corner where our 
cross-street falls into the market-place, three or four country 
women are seated, with piles of melons, gourds, egg-plant | 
fruits, and the other garden produce before them for sale. My • 
companion falls a haggling with one of these village nymphs, and 
ends by obtaining a dozen " badinjans " and a couple of water 
melons, each bigger thana man's head, for the equivalent of an * 
English twopence. With this purchase we return home, where 
we shut and bolt the outer door, then take out of a flat basket 
what has remained from over night of our wafer-like IJa'yel 
bread, and with this and a melon make a hasty breakfast. I 
say a hasty one, for although it is only half an hour after sun- 
rise, repeated knocks at our portal show the arrival of patients 



106 Life in If a! y el [Chap, iv 

and visitors : early rising being here the fashion, and reason 
must wherever artificial lighting is scanty. However, we do not 
at once open to our friends, nor will they take offence at the 
delay, but remain where they are chatting together before our 
door till we admit them : of so little value is time here. Our 
drink is water, for which we address ourselves to a goat-skin 
filled from the neighbouring well by Fatimah, daughter of our 
landlord Hasan-el-Misree, and suspended against the wall in 
the shady corner of the court. We untie its mouth where it 
hangs, and let out the contents into a very rude but strong 
brass cup of town manufacture, and with this teetotaller draught 
content ourselves. I hardly know why we had not yet begun 
at Ha'yel to make our own coffee ; we became better house- 
keepers in the after course of the journey. We then arrange 
the carpets, and I retire to my doctoral seat within, taking caie 
to have the scales and an Arab book in ostentatious evidence 
before me, while Barakat-esh-Shamee opens the entrance. 

In comes a young man of good appearance, clad in the black 
cloak common to all of the middle or upper classes in Central 
Arabia ; in his hand he bears a wand of the Sidr or lotos-wood. 
A silver-hilted sword and a glistening Kafee'yah announce him 
to be a person of some importance, while his long black ringlets, 
handsome features and slightly olive complexion, with a tall 
stature and easy gait, declare him native of Djebel Shomer, 
and townsman of IJa'yel; it is 'Ojeyl, the eldest born of a large 
family, and successor to the comfortable house and garden of 
his father not long since deceased, in a quarter of the town 
some twenty minutes , walk distant. He leads by the hand his 
younger brother, a modest-looking lad of fair complexion and 
slim make, but almost blind, and evidently out of health also. 
After passing through the preliminary ceremonies of intro- 
duction to Barakat, he approaches my recess, and standing 
without, salutes me with the greatest deference. Thinking 
him a desirable acquaintance, I receive him very graciously, 
and he begs me to see what is the matter with his brother. I 
examine the case, finding it to be within the limits of my skill, 
and not likely to require more than a very simple course of 
treatment. Accordingly I make my bargain for the chances of 
recovery, and find 'Ojeyl docile to the terms proposed, and 
with little disposition, all things considered, to backwardness 



chap, iv] North Central Arabia 107 

in payment. Arabs, indeed, are in general close in driving a \ 
bargain and open in downright giving ; they will chaffer half a j 
day about a penny, while they will throw away the worth of ' 
pounds on the first asker. But 'Ojeyl was one of the best 
specimens of the Hay el character, and of the clan Ta'i, re- 
nowned in all times for their liberal ways and high sense of - 
honour. I next proceed to administer to my patient such drugs 
as his state requires, and he receives them with that air of abso- 
lute and half religious confidence which well-educated Arabs 
show to their physician, whom they regard as possessed of an 
almost sacred and supernatural power— ^ feeling, by the way, 
hardly less advantageous to the patient than to the practitioner, 
and which may often contribute much to the success of the 
treatment. \y 

During the rest of my stay at IJa'yel, 'Ojeyl continued to be 
one of my best friends, I had almost said disciples; our mutual 
visits were frequent, and always pleasing and hearty. His 
brother's cure, which followed in less than a fortnight, confirmed 
his attachment, nor had I reason to complain of scantiness in 
his retribution. 

Meanwhile the courtyard has become full of visitors. Close 
by my door I see the intelligent and demurely-smiling face of 
'Abd-el-Mahsin, where he sits between two pretty and well- 
dressed boys; they are the two elder children of Telal, Bedr 
and Bander; their guardsman, a negro slave with a handsome 
cloak and sword, is seated a little lower down. Farther on are 
two townsmen, one armed, the other with a wand at his side. A 
rough good-natured youth of a bronzed complexion, and whose 
dingy clothes bespeak his mechanical profession, is talking with 
another of a dress somewhat different in form and coarser in 
material than that usually worn in Ha'yel; this latter must be 
a peasant from some one of the mountain villages. Two 
Bedouins, ragged and uncouth, have straggled in with the rest; 
while a tall dark-featured youth, with a gilded hilt to his sword, 
and more silk about him than a Wahhabee would approve, has 
taken his place opposite to 'Abd-el-Mahsin, and is trying to 
draw him into conversation. But this last has asked Barakat 
to lend him one of my Arabic books to read, and is deeply 
engaged in its perusal. 

'Ojeyl has taken leave, and I give the next turn of course to 



io8 Life in Ha! yet [Chap, iv 

'Abd-el-Mahsin. He informs me that Telal has sent me his 
two sons Bedr and Bander that I may examine their state of 
health, and see if they require doctoring. This is in truth a little 
stroke of policy on TelaTs part, who knows equally with myself 
that the boys are perfectly well and want nothing at all. But 
he wishes to give us a mark of his confidence, and at the same 
time to help us in establishing our medical reputation in the 
town; for though by no means himself persuaded of the reality 
of our doctoral title, he understands the expediency of saving 
appearances before the public. 

Well, the children are passed in review with all the seriousness 
due to a case of heart-complaint or brain-fever, while at a wink 
from me, Barakat prepares in the kitchen a draught of cinnamon 
water, which with sugar, named medicine for the occasion, 
pleases the young heirs of royalty and keeps up the farce; 
'Abd-el-Mahsin expatiating all the time to the bystanders on 
the wonderful skill with which I have at once discovered the 
ailments and their cure, and the small boys thinking that if this 
be medicine, they will do their best to be ill for it every day. 

'Abd-el-Mahsin now commits them to the negro, who, however, 
before taking them back to the palace, has his own story to tell 
of some personal ache, for which I prescribe without stipulating 
for payment, since he belongs to the palace, where it is import- 
ant to have the greatest number of friends possible, even on the 
back-stairs. But 'Abd-el-Mahsin remains, reading, chatting, 
quoting poetry, and talking history, recent events, natural 
philosophy, or medicine, as the case may be. 

Let us now see some of the other patients. The gold-hilted 
swordsman has naturally a special claim on our attention. 
It is the son of Rosheyd, TelaTs maternal uncle. His palace 
stands on the other side of the way, exactly opposite to our 
house; and I will say nothing more of him for the present, 
intending to pay him afterwards a special visit, and thus become 
more thoroughly acquainted with the whole family. 

Next let us take notice of those two townsmen who are 
conversing, or rather "chaffing," together. Though both in 
plain apparel, and much alike in stature and features, there 
is yet much about them to distinguish the two; one has a 
civilian look, the other a military. He of the wand is no less 
a personage than Mohammed-el-Kadee, chief justice of Ha'yel, 



Ckap. iv] North Central Arabia 109 

and of course a very important individual in the town. How- 
ever his exterior is that of an elderly unpretentious little man, 
and one, in spite of the proverb which attributes gravity to 
judges, very fond of a joke, besides being a tolerable repre- 
sentative of what may here be called the moderate party, neither 
participating in the fanaticism of the Wahhabee, nor yet, like 
the most of the indigenous chiefs, hostile to Mahometanism; 
he takes his cue from the court direction, and is popular with 
all factions because belonging properly to none. 

He requires some medical treatment for himself, and more 
for his son, a big heavy lad with a swollen arm, who has accom- 
panied him hither. Here too is a useful acquaintance, well 
up to all the scandal and small talk of the town, and willing 
to communicate it. Our visits were frequent, and I found 
his house well stored with books, partly manuscript, partly 
printed in Egypt, and mainly on legal or religious subjects. 
Among those of the latter description were, by way of example, 
a collection of Khotbahs or sermons for all the Fridays in the 
year. Mohammed was a great talker, and exercised on all 
matters a freedom of remark common though not peculiar to 
men of the legal profession; he became- in short our "daily 
news " for court intrigue and city gossip, what had been said 
in public, and what done in private, who ran away with whom, 
and so forth. Yet on the whole the portrait he thus laid 
before us of Ha'yel and its inhabitants, noble or commoners, 
was a favourable one, more so perhaps than could be in justice 
given of most capitals. This might be the result of the character 
of those tribes who, as Arab annals have it, coalesced into the 
present population, namely, Ta'i and Wa'il, with their kindred 
clans, and who were, so fame assures us, the flower of Arab 
enterprise and generosity, the most affable in peace, the most 
daring in war, and the most honourable at all times amid the 
inhabitants of Nejed and Upper Arabia. In later ages the civi- 
lization of town-life has cast an agreeable varnish over their 
rougher qualities, while that civilization itself is of too simple a 
character to render them artificial or corrupt. 

Of the country folks in the villages around, like Mogah, 
Delhemee'eh, and the rest, Mohammed-el-Kadee used to speak 
with a sort of half-contemptuous pity, much like a Parisian 
talking of Low Bretons ; in fact, the difference between these 



1 10 Life in II a? y el [Chap, iv 

rough and sturdy boors, and the more refined inhabitants of 
the capital, is, all due proportion allowed, no less remarkable 
here than in Europe itself. We will now let one of them come 
forward in his own behalf, and my readers shall be judges. 

It is accordingly a stout clown from Mogah, scantily dressed 
in working wear, and who has been occupied for the last half- 
hour in tracing sundry diagrams on the ground before him 
with a thick peach-tree switch, thus to pass his time till his 
betters shall have been served. He now edges forward, and 
taking his seat in front of the door, calls my attention with an 
" I say, doctor." Whereon I suggest to him that his bulky 
corporation not being formed of glass or any other transparent 
material, he has by his position entirely intercepted whatever 
little light my recess might enjoy. He apologizes, and shuffles 
an inch or two sideways. Next I enquire what ails him, not 
without some curiosity to hear the answer, so little does the 
herculean frame before me announce disease. Whereto 
Do'eymis, or whatever may be his name, replies, " I say, I am 
all made up of pain." This statement, like many others, 
appears to me rather too general to be exactly true. So I 
proceed in my interrogatory : " Does your head pain you 1 " 
"No." (I might have guessed that; these fellows never feel 
what our cross-Channel friends entitle " le mal des beaux 
esprits.") " Does your back ache 1 " " No." " Your arms i " 
"No." "Your legs?" "No." "Your body?" "No." 
" But," I conclude, " if neither your head nor your body, back, 
arms, or legs pain you, how can you possibly be such a com- 
position of suffering } " " I am all made up of pain, doctor," 
replies he, manfully intrenching himself within his first position. 
The fact is, that there is really something wrong with him, but 
he does not know how to localize his sensations. So I push 
forward my enquiries, till it appears that our man of Mogah has 
a chronic rheumatism ; and on ulterior investigation, conducted 
with all the skill that Barakat and I can jointly muster, it comes 
out that three or four months before he had an attack of the 
disease in its acute form, accompanied by high fever, since 
which he has never been himself again. 

This might suffice for the diagnosis, but I wish to see how he 
will find his way out of more intricate questions ; besides, the 
townsmen sitting by, and equally alive to the joke with myself, 




chap, iv] North Central A rabia ill 

whisper " Try him again." In consequence, I proceed with 
"What was the cause of your first illness ?" "I say, doctor, 
its cause was God," replies the patient. " No doubt of that," 
say I ; * all things are caused by God : but what was the 
particular and immediate occasion % " " Doctor, its cause was 
God, and, secondly, that I ate camel's flesh when I was cold," 
rejoins my scientific friend. "But was there nothing else 1 ?" 
I suggest, not quite satisfied with the lucid explanation just 
given. " Then,* too, I drank camel's milk; but it was all, I say, 
from God, doctor," answers he. 

Well, I consider the case, and make up/ my mind regarding 
the treatment. Next comes the grand ^question of payment, 
which must be agreed on beforehand, and rendered conditional 
on success ; else no fees for the doctor, not at Ha'yel only, but 
throughout Arabia. I enquire what he will give me on re- 
covery. "Doctor," answers the peasant, " I will give you, do 
you hear ? I say, I will give you a camel." But I reply that I 
do not want one. " I say, remember God," which being in- 
terpreted here means, "do not be unreasonable; I will give 
you a fat camel, every one knows my camel ; if you choose, I 
will bring witnesses, I say." And while I persist in refusing 
the proffered camel, he talks of butter, meal, dates, and such- J 
like equivalents. 

There is a patient and a paymaster for you. However, alJ 
ends by his behaving reasonably enough ; he follows my pre- 
scriptions with the ordinary docility, gets better, and gives me 
for my pains an eighteenpenny fee. 

So pass two or three hours, during which the remaining 
visitors already mentioned take each their turn, others come 
and go, and the sun nears the zenith. For brevity's sake, I 
pass on at once to the mechanic, who, after long waiting in the 
shade with genuine Arab patience, now advances, and with a 
good-natured grin on his broad features begs me to accompany 
him to his house, where his brother is lying ill of a fever. 
After a short conversation, I direct Barakat to stay at home 
till my return, and gratify my petitioner by consenting to his 
invitation. 

Small of stature, dusky in complexion, strongly built, and 
with a sly expression about his face which resembles almost 
strikingly that of Murillo's Spanish beggar-boy, Doheym 

/ 



112 Life in IJa>yel [Chap, iv 

(literally "blacky,") may stand for a not unfair specimen of a 
large class among the Central Nejdean population. Partly from 
a desire of increasing gain, partly from dislike to Wahhabee 
puritanism, his family has not long since emigrated northward 
from Kaseem to Ha'yel, where they have fixed their residence, 
but still retain many of the distinctive ways and habits of their 
native district. Such immigrations have of late become very 
common, and have greatly contributed to the numerical and 
military strength of Djebel Shomer, while they add much to its 
industrial and commercial prosperity. My readers will perhaps 
call to mind Louis XIV and the repeal of the Nantes edict, 
and add one parallel more between Arabia and Europe. For 
the civilization of Kaseem is of ancient date, and its inhabitants 
possess traditional skill in all kinds of handicraft and trade, far 
superior to anything found among the recently organized tribes 
of the north, while the memories of former independence, pro- 
tracted wars and victories, have given to their character a 
steadiness and resolution in all their undertakings very unlike 
the unsustained though dashing bravery of the north, formed 
in brief forays and in Bedouin feuds. The 'good-natured and 
social disposition common to Arabs in general has been also 
fostered among them by centuries of city and town life till it 
occasionally attains the level of sprightliness, while it bestows 
on them a more decided turn of ease and urbanity in their 
conversation than is general in Shomer and its dependencies. 
It is natural enough that such men should for the most succeed 
well in obtaining easy admittance and speedy success in a 
strange land, though they readily after a short sojourn avail 
themselves of any good opportunity for returning to their native 
country, a land favoured both by nature and art much more 
than the stony precincts of Ha'yel and the rough sierras of 
Sulma and 'Aja\ 

Poheym takes up his thin black cloak, and wraps it round 
him in folds that a sculptor might admire, and out we set 
together. As we go on to the Sook, he nods and smiles to some 
fifty acquaintances, or stops a moment to interchange a few 
words with those of his own land. The market-place is now 
crowded from end to end ; townsmen, villagers, Bedouins, some 
seated at the doors of the warehouses and driving a bargain 
with the owners inside, some gathered in idle groups, gossiping 




Chap, ivi North Central A rabia 

over the news of the hour : for the tongue is here what 
printed paper is in Europe. 

Groups of lading and unlading camels block up the path ; I 
look right and left ; there within the shops I see one merchant 
laboriously summing up his accounts (I know not how the 
Arabs of old times were ever good mathematicians, certainly at 
present a simple reckoning of addition poses nine out of the ten); 
another, for want of customers, is reading in some old dog-eared 
manuscript of prayers, or of natural history, or of geography- 
such geography ! where almost all the world except Arabia is 
filled up with "Anthropophagi and men wj>6se heads do grow 
beneath their shoulders." The Coran is little dealt in here, 
but the Shiya'ees of Meshid 'Alee may perchance have in their 
hands some small illuminated treatise on the imaginary ex- 
cellencies of 'Alee or one of his family, or very likely a some- 
what unscriptural, or more truly antiscriptural narrative of the 
amours of Joseph with Zuleykha, Potiphar's traditionary wife ; 
or the history of David's frailties, wherein the monarch's fault 
is made to consist not, as some innocently suppose, in taking 
his neighbour's wife, but in the extravagance of adding a 
hundredth to the ninety-nine he is supposed to have already, 
but lawfully, possessed, — and suchlike edifying tales. 

Mixed with the city crowd, swordsmen and gaily-dressed 
negroes, for the negro is always a dandy when he can afford 
it, belonging mostly to the palace, are now going about their 
affairs; the well-dressed chieftain and noble jostles on amid 
the plebeian crowd on terms of astounding familiarity, and 
elbows or is elbowed by the artisan and the porter ; while the 
court officers themselves meet with that degree of respect alone 
which indicates deference rather than inferiority in those who 
pay it. A gay and busy scene ; the morning air in the streets 
yet retains just sufficient coolness to render tolerable the bright 
rays of the sun, and everywhere is that atmosphere of peace, 
security, and thriving known to the visitors of Inner Arabia, but / 
less familiar to the Syrian or Anatolian traveller. Should you / 
listen to the hum of discourse around, you will seldom hear a 
curse, an imprecation, or a quarrel, but much business, re- 
partee, and laughter. Doheym and I slowly pick out our way 
through the crowd amid many greetings on either hand, till 
we reach the open space of the palace court where the Sook 

i 



114 



Life in H&'yel 



[Chap. IV 




falls into it ; and thence we pass through the high gateway, and 
enter the main artery of the town. 

It is a broad and level road, having on its left the walls of 
the palace gardens, overtopped here and there by young date 
trees, for this plantation is quite recent, and the work of the 
present reign only ; on its right a succession of houses, scattered 
jamong gardens of older growth and denser vegetation ; the trees 
I overhang the walls, and we are glad to avail ourselves of their 
/deep dark shade. Doheym entertains me with descriptions of 
Nejed and Kaseem, and extols in no measured terms the land 
of his birth ; he has seen too the Wahhabee monarch in person, 
though not in Ri'ad his capital. Thus we beguile a quarter of 
an hour's leisurely walk (it were superfluous to say that no one 
hurries his pace in these semi-tropical regions, especially in 
the month of August) , till we reach an open space behind the 
palace garden, where a large and deep excavation announces 
the Maslakhahj or slaughter-house (literally " skinning-place ") 
of the' town l^utchers. In any other climate such an establish- 
ment would be an intolerable nuisance to all neighbours if thus 
placed within the city limits, and right in the centre of gardens 
and habitations. But here the dryness of the atmosphere is 
such that no ill consequence follows ; putrefaction being effec- 
tually anticipated by the parching influence of the air, which 
renders a carcass of three or four days' standing as inoffensive 
to the nose as a leather drum ; and one may pass leisurely by 
a recently deceased camel on the road-side, and almost take 
it for a specimen prepared with arsenic and spirits for an 
anatomical museum, f 

At this point the street leads off to the interior of the capital. 
The part hitherto traversed on our walk is the new quarter, and 
dates almost entirely from the accession of the actual dynasty ; 
but now we are to enter on the original town of IJa'yel, where 
everything announces considerable though not remote antiquity. 
The two main quarters which form the old cky are divided by 
a long road, narrower and less regular than that we have yet 
followed. Nor was this line of demarcation more to indicate 
a division of the buildings than of the inhabitants, split up as 
they formerly were by civil and internecine hostility. But to 
this the strong hand of Ebn-Rasheed has at last put an end. 
•Right and left crossways, branching out off the main path, lead 



chap, iv] North Central A rabia 115 

to side streets and lesser subdivisions. We take a very narrow 
and winding lane on the right, by which Doheym leads me 
awhile through a labyrinth of gardens, wells, and old irregular 
houses, till we reach a cluster of buildings, and a covered 
gallery, conducting us through its darkness to the sun-glare of 
a broad road, bordered by houses on either side, though a low 
court wall and outer door generally intervenes between them 
and the street itself. The arch is here unknown, and the , 
portals are all of timber-work enclosed in brick, and equally 
rough and solid in construction. My guide stops before one 
such and knocks. " Samm' " (" come in^ /is heard from with- 
inside, and immediately afterwards some one comes up and 
draws back the inner bolt We now stand in a courtyard, 
where two or three small furnaces, old metal pots and pans of 
various sizes, some enormously big — for the Arabs pique them- 
selves now, like their ancestors of two thousand years since, in 
having cauldrons large enough to boil an entire sheep — sheets 
of copper, bars of iron, and similar objects, proclaim an Arab 
smithy. Some brawny, half-naked youths covered with soot 
and grime come up to present a shake of their unwashed hands, 
while they exchange Nejdean jokes with Doheym. His elder 
brother So'eyd, whose gravity as head of the family has been a 
little ruffled by the sportiveness of his younger relatives, re- 
bukes the juveniles, hastens to purify his own face and hands, 
and then introduces me to the interior of the house, where 
in a darkened room lies another brother, the sick man on 
whose behalf I have been summoned ; he is in a high fever 
and hardly able to speak, though there is fortunately no 
immediate danger. I take my seat by the patient and address 
a few preliminary questions to the bystanders, intermixed with 
hopeful prognostics, while the sick man tries to look cheerful, 
and shows that he expected my coming to see him, and is 
pleased at it. To put out the tongue even unasked, and to 
hold forth the hand that the doctor may feel the pulse, are 
customary proceedings here ; but if you do not wish to pass for 
an ignoramus, you must successively try both wrists, either 
radial being supposed entirely independent of its fellow, and 
each with a separate story to tell ; whence my readers may 
deduce that the real theory of the circulation of the blood is 
equally unknown with the name of Harvey. When I have 

1 2 



1 1 6 Life in Hayel [Chap, iv 

played my part, the elder brother takes me aside and enquires 
about the diagnosis and prognosis, or, in plain English, what is 
the ^matter, and what may be the consequences. On my guarded 
reply, he promises compliance with whatever I may prescribe, 
and then invites me to sit down and take coffee before any 
further doctorings. I show a desire of at once getting things in 
order for the patient, but the patient himself in a low voice, 
eked out with signs, indicates his wish that I should first and 
foremost partake of their hospitality. Were he actually dying 
:\\| I doubt whether matters coulcTTiokT another course in these 
»\v countries. So dates are brought, pipes are lighted, Doheym 
prepares coffee, and the room in which (mind you) the sick man 
is lying, fills with visitors. Seclusion makes no part of Arab 
treatment ; on the contrary it is considered almost a sacred 
duty to visit and enliven the sufferer by the most numerous 
and the most varied society that can be got together. The 
Arab invalid himself has no idea of being left alone ; to be 
kept in company is all his desire; nay, the same system is 
observed even when death occurs in a family, and the sur- 
vivor's nearest of kin, son, wife, or husband, keep open house 
for many days after in order to receive the greatest amount of 
consolatory calls possible, so that the solitude of woe has few 
advocates here. 

/In Doheym's house the visitors are mainly natives of Kaseem, 
or Upper Nejed. It was easy to perceive from their bearing 
and from the tone of their conversation that the inhabitants of 
the above-named provinces were no less superior to those of 
Djebel Shomer in whatever is understood by civilization and 
general culture, than the Shomerites to those of Djowf, or the 
people of Djowf to the Bedouins. Indeed, if my readers will 
draw a diagonal line across, the map of Arabia from north-west 
to south-east, following th& direction of my actual journey 
through that country, and trl|n distinguish the several regions 
of the peninsula by belts <tf colour brightening while they 
represent the respective degre% of advancement in arts, com- 
merce, and their kindred acquirements, on the Dupin system, 
they will have for the darkest lil|^ that nearest to the north, 
or Wadi Serhan, while the Djowf, fitiebel Shomer, Nejed, IJasa, 
and their dependencies, grow lighter in succession more and 
more, till the belt corresponding toVOman should sh.ow the 



V 



chap, iv] North Central A rabia 1 1 7 

cheerfullest tint of all. In fact, it is principally owing to the 
circumstance that the northern and western parts of Arabia 
have been hitherto those almost exclusively visited by travellers, 
that the idea of Arab barbarism dr Bedouinism has found such 
general acceptance in Europe. 

Here we are now in Ha'yel, yet in the midst of Nejdean 
politics and debate, where the bigotry and tyranny of the 
Wahhabee meet with oft-recurring and cordial detestation. The 
siege of ' Qneyzalu its latest news, conjectures, hopes and fears 
relative to itlfmnwion and result, are the l chief topic of con- 
versation. Already, indeed, when hardly beyond the boun- 
daries of the Djowf, had we heard of that great event of the 
Arabian day. But\here it was the all-engrossing subject of 
anxious enquiry and' speculation, and the real though disguised 
cause of the frequent visits paid by the chiefs of Kaseem to 
Telal, and of their endless rendezvous in the apartments of 
'Abd-el-Mahsin. 

That large town had been for centuries the capital of the 
province, or father of aNfull third of Arabia, namely, of what 
we may call its north-wWern centre. Its commerce with 
Medinah and Mecca on tne one hand, and with Nejed, nay, 
even with Damascus and Bagdad, on the other, had gathered 
in its warehouses stores of traffic unknown to any other locality 
of inner Arabia, and its hardy Merchants were met with alike 
on the shores of the Red Sea aft^l of the Persian Gulf, and 
occasionally on the more distant banks of the Euphrates, or by 
the waters of Damascus. Meanwhile the martial and energetic 
character of its population prevented a too exclusive predomi- 
nance of the commercial over thel military spirit, and the war- 
riors of 'Oneyzah had twice at a frecent period been seen be- 
neath the walls of Bahholah in th| very heart of 'Oman, though 
separated from them by three months' distance of Arab march. 
'Oneyzah itself boasted a double- enclosure of fortifications, 
unbaked brickwork it is true, butt in their height and thickness 
no less formidable to Arab besiegers in their present state of 
obsidionary science, than the defences of Antwerp or of Badajoz 
to a European army. The outef circle of walls, with its trench 
and towers, protected the gardpns, while the inner range sur- 
rounded the compact mass of the town itself. Here a young 
and courageous chief Zamil, or, to give him the name by which 






1 1 8 Life in Ha yel [Chap, iv 

he is often familiarly styled, Zoweymil-el-'Ateeyah,"was adored 
by his fellow-citizens and subjects for his. gentleness and libe- 
rality in peace, and his daring in war. It was this chief who 
now held! 'Oneyzah against the troops of Feysul, reigning 
monargn of the Wahhabee or Ebn-Sa'ood dynasty. Such was 
the position of affairs in August 1862 ; the rest of my stay in 
Arabia exactly coincided with the continuation and catastrophe 
of/ this bloody drama, of which I was in part rendered by 
circumstances a very unwilling eyewitness. 

We left Doheym and his friends or relatives in earnest dis- 
cussion of these topics. However, their conversational powers 
were nowise confined to war and politics ; medicine and sur- 
gery (for the Arabs hardly distinguish the one from the other, 
whether in theory or practice ; indeed, their favourite remedy or 
panacea, the actual cautery, belongs rather to the latter than 
the former) were often brought on the carpet, and I was 
pleased to find my Kaseem acquaintances speak on these 
matters with much good sense, all due allowances made, and 
even with some slight tinge of experience. Many plants that\ 
grow hereabouts possess some medicinal virtue, tonic, sedative, / 
or narcotic, and are occasionally employed by the more knowing/ 
inhabitants. The use, too, of fomentations and other external 
remedies or palliatives is not entirely beyond their skill, and 
natural quickness may and does fill up to a certain measure the 
deficiencies of theoretical ignorance. 

An hour wears away in agreeable and lively talk. Some 
other patients are offered to my care, and visits are arranged, 
till, after suitable prescriptions for the invalid,. I rise to take 
my leave. Doheym's eldest brother offers to accompany me 
to some of the neighbouring houses, where he expects that 
mutual advantage may be derived for the sick and for the 
doctor. 

This part of the town is composed of large groups or islands 
of houses, arranged with some approach to regularity amid 
gardens and wells : but it possesses neither market nor mosque, 
an additional. evidence of the prevailing want of organization 
before the Ebn-Rasheed dynasty. The struts or lanes are 
cleaner than I had expected to find them, but this is due in part 
to the remarkable dryness of the climate. We st\>ll about here 
and there, sometimes drawing near to the high craggy rock 



Chap. IV] 



North Central Arabia 



119 



that overhangs the eastern town wall, sometimes winding 
through the groves that border the inner line of the southern 
fortifications, till noon is past, and the heat renders further 
walking unadvisable. So'eyd reconducts me to the main road, 
and there quits me with a promise to send Doheym in the 
evening to inform me of the state of my patient. 

I now return homewardsVlone ; the streets, and the market 
are nearly solitary ; the smauVblack shadows lie close gathered 
up at the stems of the palm-tr^s or under the walls, everything 
sleeps under the heavy glare of n v §pn. Perhaps, instead of going 
on directly to our domicile, curiosity and the pleasure of being 
alone leads me on some minutes farther trfj to the western gate, 
thence to look out on the great plain between Ha'yel and the 
mountain. That plain now appears transformed into one wide 
lake, whose waters seem to bathe the rocky verge of Shomer, 
while nearer to the town they fade into deceptive pools and 
shallows ; it is the e very-day illusion of the jrrirag e. If we 
return when the meriJian heat is passing away, we may see the 
fairy lake shrunk up to a distant pond, and before evening it 

)will quite disappear, to return next day an hour or two before 
noon. Meanwhile this semblance of water, "the eye of the 
landscape," as the Arabs not inappropriately call that element, 
renders the view, which would else be too arid and rough, very 
lovely. Were it but real ! 

After feasting my gaze on this beautiful though now familiar 
phenomenon, I regain our dwelling. Barakat and myself make 
our dinner, and talk over the visits and affairs of the morning. 
/We have then two hours or so of quiet before us, for it is 
/ seldom that any one calls at this period of the day, hardly less 
a siesta here than in Italy or Spain. At last the 'Asr ap- 
proaches, a division of time well known in the East,*Eut for 
which European languages have no corresponding name ; it 
begins from the moment when the sun has reached half-way in 
\ his declining course, and continues till about an hour and a 
half or rather less before his setting. We now leave the house 
together, and direct our steps towards the palace by a cross-way 
leading between the dwellings of some court retainers and an 
angle of the great mosque. In this, latter there will generally 
be a decent number of worshippers for the Salat-el-'Asr, or 
afternoon prayers, especially since this is the hour chosen by 



> 



*n 






1 







120 Life in Ha yel [Chap, iv 

Telal and Zamil out of the five legal periods for performing 
their devotions in public, though even then they are not un- 
frequently absent. These prayers are invariably followed by the 
reading aloud of a chapter or section selected from some tradi- 
tionary work, and to this often succeeds a short extemporary 
sermon or commentary on what has been read. 

Concerning the ceremonies of the prayer itself — though 
slightly different among the Hambelees and Malekees of Cen- 
tral Arabia, from those in fashion with the Wahhabees, on the 
one hand, and from what is generally observed among the 
Shafi'ees and Haneefees more frequently met with in Syria or 
in Turkey, on the other — I will not here detain my reader. 
For a correct idea of Mahometan worship in its ordinary form, 

ii I would beg leave to refer such as desire it to the third chapter 
of Lane's Egypt, where they will find whatever instruction they 
may need on this and on analogous subjects given in clear 
and interesting detail, and with incomparable accuracy upon 
all points. 

When prayer is over, about half the congregation rise and 
depart. Those who remain in the mosque draw together near 
the centre of the large and simple edifice, and seat themselves 
on its pebble-strewn floor, circle within circle; some lean their 
backs against the rough square pillars, I might better call them 
piers, that support the roof, some play with the staff or riding- 
switch in their hands. In the midmost of the assembly a 
person selected as reader, but neither Imam nor Khateeb, who 
is supposed to be better acquainted with letters than are the 
average of his countrymen, besides being gifted with a good 
and sonorous voice, holds on his knees a large manuscript, 
which might be an object of much curiosity at Berlin or Paris ; 
it contains the traditions of the prophet, or the lives of his 
companions, or perhaps El-Bokharee's commentaries, or some- 
thing else of the kind. Out of this he reads in a clear but 
somewhat monotonous tone, accompanying each word by an 
inflexion and accentuation worthy of Sibawee'yah or Kosey', 
and hardly to be attained by the best professional grammarian 
of Syria or Cairo. And reason clear; here it is nature, there 
art. This kind of lecture lasts ordinarily from ten minutes to 
a quarter of an hour, and is listened to in decorous silence, 
while all who have any pretensions to religious feeling, and 



Chap. IV] 



North Central Arabia 



121 



these form of course a large proportion of those present on 
such occasions, look down on the ground, or fix their eyes on 
the reader and his volume. Others, of a less serious turn of 
mind, and the younger auditors, put themselves at their ease ; 
and others, again, whisper sceptical criticism to their neigh- 
bours, or interchange glances of sarcasm at the recital of some 
portentous exploit, or totally incredible vision. I regret to say 
that Telal himself, when he honoured these meetings with his 
presence, set invariably a very bad example of attention, giving 
the time to studying the faces of the congregation, and showing 
by the expression of his quick-glancing reye, that his thoughts 
were much more occupied by questions of actual life and/ 
politics, than by the wise sayings of the Prophet, or the glorious 
achievements of his companions. 

If the prince were in the mosque his custom was after about 
ten minutes' patience to give the reader a sign that he had had 
enough of it, on which the latter would close his book, and the 
assembly break up without further ceremony. But if the prince 
were absent, the reader's place would be taken by one of the 
elder and more respectable individuals belonging to the semi- 
literary semi-religious class, or by the Imam or the Khateeb 
himself, who would then give a short verbal explanation of the 
chapter just read, or at times an extemporary sermon, but 
sitting, and in a familiar way. I have often heard much good 
sense and practical morality enounced on these occasions both; 
here and in Kaseem. 

When the reading, or the reading and sermon together, an 
concluded, every one would remain seated in silence for a 
minute or so, partly as though to reflect on what they had 
heard, and partly to give the more important personages pre- 
sent free time to retire before the press of the throng. Telal 
would naturally be the first to rise and leave the building, 
accompanied by Zamil and his brothers or 'Abd-el-Mahsin, and 
take his place on a stone bench in the courtyard without, there 
to hold a short afternoon audience. On this occasion minor 
causes, and whatever had not been deemed of sufficient import- 
ance to occupy the morning hours, would often be discussed ; 
and Telal himself would occasionally relax into a condescending 
smile when some Bedouin presented his uncouth complaint, or 
two townsmen, guilty of having called each other hard names, 



I 



122 Life in IJa!yel [Chap, iv 

were brought into his presence. I was more than once an 
amused spectator of these scenes ; TelaTs manner was concise 
and sarcastic ; the decision very frequently to administer a few 
stripes, nowise severe ones, to both parties; the .royal judge 
wisely, observing that insult was almost always the offspring of 
provocation, and that where the fault was equally divided, 
the punishment should be so too. But it was a very mild 
one; a Charterhouse boy in my time (1838-44) might have 
thought himself lucky had three marks in the Black Book 
brought him no more from the dreaded head-master of our day. 

We now mix with the crowd; sometimes 'Abd-el-Mahsin 
would single us out, and enter into deep discussion of Arab 
literature and history ; or a friend from among the townsmen, 
often one of the younger chiefs who had become in a certain 
way our clients and companions, would invite us to psg^hpyjjjfj 
dates, with a cup of that coffee which Arabia alone can afford, 
lrTKis father's or uncle's house. 

Of dinners or suppers, for either name may suit the evening 
meal, I have already spoken at sufficient length, and need not 
here go through the scene again. Ex uno disce omnes, at least 
in what regards the comestibles through the whole of inner 
Arabia from the Djowf to the neighbourhood of Ri'ad. Never 
had a^ nation less idea of cookery than the Arabs; in this 
science, anyhow, Turks, Persians, and Indians leave them 
immeasurably behind ; they know no more of it in truth than 
just enough to bring them within the "cooking animal" defp 
nition of man. Rice and boiled mutton, all piled in one large 
dish, a little indifferent bread, dates, perhaps a hard-boiled egg 
or two, hashed gourds or something of the kind for garnish ;P| 
the monarch of all Shorn er cum Djowf and Kheybar has no 
more at his table. Wash your hands, say Bismillah (unless 
you desire to pass for an atheist), fall to, eat as fast as though 
you were afraid that the supper would run away, then say, 
"El hamdu I'lllah," or "thanks to God," with an added 
compliment to your host if you wish to be polite, wash your 
hands again, with soap or with potash, for sometimes the one 
will be brought you and sometimes the other, and all is over 
as far as the meal is concerned. You have smoked a pipe or 
two and drunk three or four cups of coffee before supper ; you 






Chap. IV] 



North Central A rabia 



123 



may now smoke and drink one only, for that is the etiquette 
after eating, and then wish your friends good evening and go 
away. 

Rosheyd, TelaTs maternal uncle, and our next-door neigh- 
bour, as I have before mentioned, invited us not unfrequently 
to his house. He was a rather shrewd, amusing, but very 
superficial character, proud of his knowledge of foreign lands, 
having travelled farther than almost any other man in Ha'yel. 
He had even reached Kerkook, seven days' journey north of 
Bagdad, and was besides no stranger to Egypt, both Upper and 
Lower. Like too ma^ryjravellers of iriore cultivated races, he 
had managed to see the outside of everything and the inside of 
nothing, and would spin long yarns of grotesque adventures 
and exotic singularities, mu3TTeminding one of the way in 
which men are apt to talk of other countries than their own 
when they have visited them without previous knowledge of 
language, history, and manners. But his heart was better than 
his head, and if not a wise he was at least a kind and steady 
friend. 

Dohey's invitations were particularly welcome, both from the 
pleasantness of his dwelling-place, and from the varied and 
interesting conversation that I was sure to meet with there. 
This merchant, a tall and stately man of between fifty and sixty 
years of age, and whose thin features were lighted up by a lustre 
of more than ordinary intelligence, was a thorough Ha'yelite of 
the old caste, hating Wahhabees from the bottom of his heart, 
eager for information on cause and effect, on lands and govern- 
ments, and holding commerce and social life for the main props 
if not the ends of civil and national organization. His uncle, 
now near eighty years old, to judge by conjecture in a land 
where registers are not much in use, had journeyed to India, 
and traded at Bombay ; in token whereof he still wore an Indian 
skull-cap and a Cachemire shawl. The rest of the family were 
in keeping with the elder members, and seldom have I seen 
more dutiful children or a better educated household. My 
readers will naturally understand that by education I here imply 
its moral not its intellectual phase. The eldest son, himself a 
middle-aged man, would never venture into his father's presence 
without unbuckling his sword and leaving it in the vestibule, 



H 




124 



Life in Hayel 



[Chap. IV 



nor on any account presume to sit on a level with him or by 
his side in the divan. 

The divan itself" was one of the prettiest I met with in theses 
parts. It was a large square room, looking out on the large 
house-garden, and cheerfully lighted up by trellised windows 
on two sides, while the wall of the third had purposely been 
discontinued at about halfwits height, and the open space thus / 
left between it and the roof propped by pillars, between which / 
"a fruitful vine by the sides of the house" was intertwined so J 
as to fill up the interval with a gay network of green leaves and J 
endrils, transparent like stained glass in the eastern sunbeams./ 
Facing this cheerful light the floor of the apartment was raised 
about two feet above the rest, and covered with gay Persian 
carpets, silk cushions, and the best of Arab furniture. In the 
lower half of the K'hawah, and at its farthest angle, was the 
small stone coffee-stove, placed at a distance where its heat 
might not annoy the master and his guests. , Many of the 
city nobility would here resort, and the talk~"generaily turned 
on serious subjects, and above all on the parties and politics of 
Arabia; while Dohey' would show himself a thorough Arab 
patriot, and at the same time a courteous and indulgent judge 
of foreigners, qualities seldom to be met with together in any 
notable degree, and therefore more welcome. 

Many a pleasant hour have I passed in this half greenhouse, \ 
half K'hawah, mid cheerful faces and varied talk, while inly \ 
commenting on the natural resources of this manly and vigorous 
people, and straining the eye of forethought to discern through 
the misty curtain of the future by what outlet their now un- / 
fruitful because solitary good may be brought into fertilizing / 
contact with that of other more advanced nations, to the mutual / 
benefit of each and all. ^ 

Talk went on with the ease and decorum characteristic of good 
Eastern society, without the flippancy and excitement which 
occasionally mars it in some countries, no less than over-silence 
does in others. To my mind the Easterns are generally superior 
in the science of conversation to the inhabitants of the West; 
perhaps from a greater necessity of cultivating it, as the only 
means of general news and intercourse where newspapers and 
pamphlets are unknown. 

Or else some garden was the scene of our afternoon leisure, 



chap, iv], North Central Arabia 12$ 

among fruit-trees and palms, by the side of a watercourse, whose 
constant supply from the well hid from view among thick 
foliage, seemed the work not of laborious art but of unassisted j 
nature. Here, stretched in the cool and welcome shade, would 
we for hours canvass with 'Abd-el-Mahsin, and others of similar 
pursuits, the respective merits of Arab poets and authors, of 
Omar-ebn-el-Farid or Aboo'l 'Ola, in meetings that had some- 
thing of the Attic, yet with just enough of the Arab to render 
them more acceptable by their Semitic character of grave 
cheerfulness and mirthful composure. 

Or when the stars came out, Barakat and myself would stroll 
out of the heated air of the streets and rnarket to the cool open 
plain, and there pass an hour or two alone, or in conversation 
with what chance passer-by might steal on us half unperceived 
j and unperceiving in the dusk, and amuse ourselves with his 
simplicity if he were a Bedouin, or with his shrewdness if a 
townsman. 

Thus passed our ordinary life at IJa'yel. Many minor inci- 
dents occurred to diversify it, many of the little ups and downs 
that human intercourse never fails to furnish ; sometimes the 
number of patients and the urgency of their attendance allowed 
of little leisure for aught except our professional duties ; some- 
times a day or two would pass with hardly any serious occupa- 
tion. But of such incidents my readers have a sufficient sample 
in what has been already set down. Suffice to say, that from 
the 27th of July to the 8th of September we remained doctor- ;e\, 
ing in the capital or in its immediateTieighbourhood. 

By this time we had obtained sufficient knowledge of the 
Shomer capital and its denizens, while far the greater part of 
our journey lay yet before us, and the autumn was already 
drawing on. Besides, any notable prolongation of our stay at 
Ha'yel might be dangerous both for ourselves and for Telal ; we 
were watched by the spies of 'Obeyd and Feysul, and so was 
the monarch also. The Bagdad merchants, too, who formed a 
numerous and not uninfluential body in the town, looked on 
us with positive dislike, supposing us in reality Damascenes, for* 
whom the Shiy'aees bear an especial and hereditary hatred, 
that twelve centuries have rather increased than diminished. 
Accordingly, though in most respects so dissident from the 
Wahhabee sectarians, they now sided with them in one thing, 



126 Life in II at y el [Chap, iv 

and that was in giving us askance looks of no friendly import, 
and in saying of us all the harm imaginable, whenever they 
could safely do so, I mean among themselves and behind our 
backs. Moreover, my stock of remedies was limited, and I 
had cause to fear lest too much expenditure of them in one 
place might barely leave us enough to suffice for the prac- 
tice awaiting us in the rest of our long journey. Now the 
journey across the Shomer frontier could only be pursued with 
TelaTs cognizance, and by his good will. In fact, a passport 
bearing the royal signature is indispensable for all who desire 
to cross the boundary, especially into the Wahhabee territory ; 
without such a document in hand no one would venture to 

V conduct us. 

Accordingly we requested and obtained a special audience 
at the palace. Telal, of whose goodwill we had received fre- 
quent, indeed daily proofs during our sojourn at Ha'yel, proved 
a sincere friend — patron would be a juster word — to the last ; 
exemplifying the Scotch proverb about the guest not only who 
" will stay," but also who " maun gang." To this end he then 
dictated to Zamil, for Telal himself is no scribe, a passport or 
general letter of safe conduct, enough to ensure us good treat- 
ment within the limits of his rule, and even beyond. I subjoin 
the translation for the benefit of the Foreign Office and all 
therein employed. 

" In the name of God the Merciful, we, Telal-ebn-Rasheed, 

/ to all dependent on Shomer who may see this, peace be with 
/ you and the mercy of God. Next, we inform you that the 
bearers of this paper are Seleem-el-'Eys-Abou-Mahmood and 
his associate Barakat, physicians, seeking their livelihood by 
doctoring, with the help of God, and journeying under our 
protection, so let no one interfere with or annoy them, and 
peace be with you." Here followed the date. 

When this was written, Telal affixed his seal, and rose to 
leave us alone with Zamil, after a parting shake of the hand, 
and wishing us a prosperous journey and speedy return. Yet 
with all these motives for going, I could not but feel reluctant 
to quit a pleasing town, where we certainly possessed many 
sincere friends and well-wishers, for countries in which we 
could by no means anticipate equal favour or even equal 
safety. Indeed, so ominous was all that we heard about 



chap, iv] North Central Arabia 127 

Wahhabee Nejed, so black did the landscape before us look, 
on nearer approach, that I almost repented of my resolution, 
and was considerably inclined to say, " Thus far enough, and 
no farther." 

But " over shoes over boots," and the "tra Beatrice e te e 
questo muro " of the Florentine, though in a somewhat altered 
sense, ran in my memory, and gave me courage. And then we 
had already got so far that to turn back from what was yet to 
traverse, be it what it might, would have been an unpardonable 
want of heart. We now requested Zamil to let us know where 
we were to find out our destined companions for the road. He 
answered that they had received ordersjt6 come in quest of us, 
and that they would unfailingly present themselves at our house 
the very same day. 

'Obeyd, TelaTs uncle, had left Ha'yel the day before on a 
military expedition against the Bedouins of the West. In 
common with all the sight-seers of the town, we had gone to 
witness his departure. It was a gay and interesting scene. 
'Obeyd had caused his tent to be pitched in the plain without 
the northern walls; and there reviewed his forces. About 
one-third were on horseback, the rest were mounted on light 
and speedy camels ; all had spears and matchlocks, to which 
the gentry added swords : and while they rode hither and 
thither in sham manoeuvres over the parade-ground, the whole 
appearance was very picturesque and tolerably martial. 'Obeyd 
now unfurled his own peculiar standard, in which the green 
colour distinctive of Islam had been added border-wise to the 
white ground of the ancestral Nejdean banner, mentioned 
fourteen centuries back by 'Omar-ebn-Kelthoom, the poet of 
Taghleb, and many others. Barakat and myself mixed with the 
crowd of spectators. 'Obeyd saw us, and it was now several 
days since we had last met. Without hesitating, he cantered up 
to us, and while he tendered his hand for a farew r ell shake, he 
said : " I have heard that you intend going to Ri'ad ; there you 
will meet with 'Abd-AUah the eldest son of Feysul ; he is my 
particular friend; I should much desire to see you high in 
his good graces, and to that end I have written him a letter 
in your behalf, of which you yourselves are to be the bearers ; 
you will find it in my house, where I have left it for you with 
one of my servants." He then assured us that if he found us 



128 Life in IJaycl [Chap, iv 

still at Ha'yel on his return, he would continue to befriend us 
in every way; but that if we journeyed forward to Nejed, we 
should meet with a sincere friend in 'Abd-Allah, especially if 
we gave him the letter in question. 

He then took his leave with a semblance of affectionate cor- 
diality that made the bystanders stare ; thus supporting to the 
last the profound dissimulation which he had only once belied 
for a moment. The letter was duly handed over to us the same 
afternoon by his head-steward, whom he had left to look after 
the house and garden in his absence. Doubtless my readers 
will be curious to know what sort of recommendation 'Obeyd 
had provided us with. It was written on a small scrap of thick 
paper, about four inches each way, carefully folded up and 
secured by three seals. However, " our fears forgetting man- 
ners," we thought best with Hamlet to make perusal of this 
grand commission before delivering it to its destination. So we 
undid the seals with precautions admitting of reclosing them in 
proper form, and read the royal knavery. I give it word for 
word j it ran thus : " In the Name of God the Merciful, the 
Compassionate, We 'Obeyd-ebn-Rasheed salute you, O 'Abd- 
Allah son of Feysulebn-Sa'ood, and peace be on you, and the 
mercy of God and His blessings." (This is the invariable com- 
mencement of all Wahhabee epistles, to the entire omission of 
the complimentary formulas used by other Orientals.) "After 
which," so proceeded the document, "we inform you that the 
bearers of this are one Seleem-el-'Eys, and his comrade Barakat- 
esh-Shamee, who give themselves out for having some know- 
ledge in" — here followed a word of equivocal import, capable of 
interpretation alike by " medicine " or " magic," but generally 
used in Nejed for the latter, which is at Ri'ad a capital crime. 
" Now may God forbid that we should hear of any evil having 
befallen you. We salute also your father Feysul, and your 
brothers, and all your family; and anxiously await your news 
in answer. Peace be with you." Here followed the signet 
impression. 

A pretty recommendation, especially under the actual cir- 
cumstances. However, not content with this, 'Obeyd found 
means to transmit further information regarding us, and all in 
the same tenour, to Ri'ad, as we afterwards discovered. For 
his letter, I need hardly say that it never passed from our 



Chap, iv] North Central Arabia 129 

possession, where it yet remains as an interesting autograph, 
to that of 'Abd- Allah ; with whom it would inevitably have 
proved the one only thing wanting, as we shall subsequently 
see, to make us leave the forfeit of our lives in the Nejdean 
man-trap. 

Before evening three men knocked at our door ; they were 
our future guides. The eldest bore the name of Mubarek, and 
was a native of the suburbs of Bereydah ; all three were of the 
genuine Kaseem breed, darker and lower in stature than the 
inhabitants of Ha'yel, but not ill-looking, and extremely affable 
in their demeanour. Mubarek told us that; their departure from 
Ha'yel had been at first fixed for the marrow, or the 7 th of the 
month, but that owing to some delay on the part of their com- 
panions, for the band was a large one, it had been subsequently 
put off to the 8th or the day after. Such procrastinations are 
of continual occurrence in the East, where the mode of travel- 
ling renders them unavoidable, and one must be prepared for 
them and take them as they come, under penalty of making 
oneself ridiculous by unavailing impatience. We now struck a 
bargain with Mubarek for the hire of two of his camels to bear 
ourselves and our chattels; the price was almost ridiculously 
small, even after making allowance for the comparatively high 
value of money in these inland regions ; and we were glad to 
see that the polite and chatty manners of our new guides pro- 
mised us an agreeable journey. 

We had soon made all necessary arrangements for our 
departure, got in a few scattered debts, packed up our pharma- 
copoeia, and nothing now remained but the pleasurable pain of 
farewells. They were many and mutually sincere. Meta'ab 
had indeed made his a few days before, when he, a second 
time, left Ha'yel for the pastures \ Telal we had already taken 
leave of, but there remained his younger brother Mohammed to 
give us a hearty adieu of good augury. Most of my old ac- 
quaintance or patients, Pohey' the merchant, Mohammed the 
judge, Doheym and his family, not forgetting our earliest friend 
Seyf the chamberlain, Sa'eed the cavalry officer, and others of 
the court, freemen and slaves, white or black (for negroes 
readily follow the direction indicated by their masters, and are 
not ungrateful if kindly treated while kept in their due posi- 
tion), and many others of whose names Homer would have 

K 



130 Life in IJ ay el [Chap, iv 

made a catalogue and I will not, heard of our near departure, 
and came to express their regrets, with hopes of future meeting 
and return. ' 

'Abd-el-Mahsin, too, accompanied by Bedr, the eldest of 
Telal's sons, came a little before evening to see us a last time 
and bid us God-speed. All along he had been our daily and 
welcome companion, and his cultivated and well-stored mind, 
set off by ready eloquence, had done much to charm our stay 
and to take off the loneliness that even in the midst of a crowd 
is apt to weigh on strangers in a foreign land. The boy, too, 
Bedr, was much what his father must have been at that age ; 
we had helped to cure him of some slight feverish attacks not 
uncommon at that time of life, and our young patient showed 
in return steady gratitude and simple attachment, more, per- 
haps, than is customary among children, at least of high birth, 
while his modest and polite manners would have done credit 
to a European court education. 'Abd-el-Mahsin assured us, in 
Telal's name and his own, that w r e carried with us the good- 
will of all the court, and we sat thus together till sunset, staving 
off the necessity of separating by word and answer that had no 
meaning, except that we could not make up our minds to part. 
Our latest, but not least affectionate visit, that night was from 
Zamil. 

Early next morning, before day, Mubarek and another of 
his countrymen, named Dahesh, were at our door with the 
camels. Some of our town friends had also come, even at this 
hour, to accompany us as far as the city gates. We mounted 
our beasts, and while the first sunbeams streamed level over 
the plain, passed through the south-western portal beyond the 
market-place, the 8th of September 1862, and left the city of 
Ha'yel. 



13* 



CHAPTER V 
Journey from Hayel i^/Bereydah 

More bleak to view, the hills at length recede, 
And, less luxuriant, smoother vales extend ; 

Immense horizon-bounded plains succeed, 
Far as the eye discerns, without an end. 

Byron 

A New Stage of our yourney — Comparative Unimportance of Bedouins in 
Central Arabia — Our Travelling Companions — Their Characters — 
Horse Trade from Shomer to Koweyt — Li?nits of Djebel ''Ajd' — ''Eyn 
Thejjajah — Valley between ''Ajd and Solma — Attack of Harb Bedouins — 
Djebel Solma — Tomb of Hatim-eUTaH — Feyd — Its Governor and Court 
of Justice — Description of the Village — So lib ah Encampment — Upper 
Kaseem — Its Territorial Features — Arab Poetry — Nejed — Vegetation — 
Springs — Watershed of Northern Arabia, whereabouts — Kef a, its Appear- 
ance — Koseybah — Kowarah, its Situation — Wahhabee Limit — Stone Circle 
of^Eyoon — Topographical Features of Lower Kaseem — Its Culture — Palm 
Groves, Cotton, and curious Narcotic Plant — Character of the Inhabitants 
— Their Intercourse with Ifejaz — Its Effects — Cabul Darweeshes — 'Eyocn 
— Foley h^s Stepper — Road to Bereydah — Ghat — False Alarm — Distant 
View of Bereydah — Suburb of Doweyr — Mubar eft's Cottage — Family Life. 

Another stage of our way. From Gaza to Ma'an, from Ma'an 
to the Djowf, from the Djowf to Ha'yel, three such had now 
been gone over, not indeed without some fatigue or discomfort, 
yet at comparatively little personal risk, except what nature 
herself, not man, might occasion. For to cross the stony desert 
of the northern frontier, or the sandy Nefood in the very height 
of summer, could not be said to be entirely free from danger, 
where in these waterless wastes thirst, if nothing else, may alone, 
and often does, suffice to cause the disappearance of the over- 
adventurous traveller, nay, even of many a Bedouin, no less 
effectually than a lance thrust or a musket ball. But if nature 
had been so far unkind, of man at least we had hitherto not 

K 2 



132 Journey from Hay el to Bereydah [Chap, v 

much to complain; the Bedouins on their route, however rough 
and uncouth in their ways, had, with only one exception, meant 
us fairly well, and the townsmen in general had proved friendly 
and courteous beyond our expectation. Once within the es- 
tablished government limits of Ebn-Rasheed and among his 
subjects, we had enjoyed our share in the common security 
afforded to wayfarers and inhabitants for life and property, 
while good success had hitherto accompanied us. " Judge of _ 
the day by its dawn," say the Arabs; and although this proverb, 
like all proverbs, does not always hold exactly true, whether 
for sunshine or cloud, yet it has its value at times. And 
thus, whatever unfavourable predictions or dark forebodings 
our friends might hint regarding the Inner Nejed and its 
denizens, we trusted that so favourable a past augured some- 
what better things for the future.^ 

From physical and material difficulties like those before met 
with, there was henceforward much less to fear. The great 
heats of summer were past, the cooler season had set in; besides, 
our path now lay through the elevated table-land of Central 
Arabia, whose northern rim we had already surmounted at our 
entrance on the Djebel Shomer. Nor did there remain any 
uncultivated or sandy track to cross comparable to the Nefood 
of Djowf between Ha'yel and Ri'ad; on the contrary, we were 
to expect pasture lands and culture, villages and habitations, 
cool mountain air, and a sufficiency if not an abundance of 
water. Nor were our fellow companions now mere Bedouins 
and savages, but men from town or village life, members of 
organized society, and so far civilized beings. 

When adieus, lookings back, wavings of the hand, and all the 
customary signs of farewell and good omen were over between 
our Ha'yel friends and ourselves, we pursued our road by the 
plain which I have already described as having been the fre- 
quent scene of our morning walks; but instead of following the 
south-westerly path towards Kefar, whose groves and roof-tops 
now rose in a blended mass before us, we turned eastward, and 
rounded, though at some distance, the outer wall of Ha'yel for 
nearly half an hour, till we struck off by a south-easterly track 
across stony ground, diversified here and there by wells, each 
with a cluster of gardens and a few houses in its neighbourhood. 
At last we reached a narrow winding pass among the cliffs of 



Chap, vj L ower Nejed 1 3 3 

Djebel 'Aja', whose mid-loop encircles Ha'yel on all sides, and 
here turned our heads to take a last far-off view of what had 
been our home, or the agreeable semblance of a home, for 
several weeks. 

Our only companions as yet were Mubarek and Dahesh. We 
had outstripped the rest, whose baggage and equipments had 
required a more tedious arrangement than our own. However, 
this could not long continue; and accordingly after some hours 
of turning and twisting in the mountain gorges, we stopped 
near noon in a little shrubby plain, where our camels found 
pasture and we shade, to await the arrival of our lingering 
fellow travellers. cJ 

Before long they came up, a motley crew. Ten or there- 
abouts of the Kaseem ; some from Bereydah itself, others from 
neighbouring towns ; two individuals who gave themselves out, 
but with more asseveration than truth, to be natives of Mecca 
itself; three Bedouins, two of whom belonged to the Shomer 
clan, the third an 'Anezah of the north; next a runaway negro 
conducting four horses, destined to pass the whole breadth of 
Arabia and to be shipped off at Koweyt on the Persian Gulf 
for Indian sale ; two merchants, one from Zulphah in the pro- 
vince of Sedeyr, the other from Zobeyr near Basrah ; lastly, 
two women, wives of I know not exactly whom in the caravan, 
with some small children: all this making up, ourselves in- 
cluded, a band of twenty-seven or twenty-eight persons, the 
most mounted on camels, a few on horseback, and accom- 
panied by a few beasts of burden alongside — such was our 
Canterbury pilgrims' group. 

" The more the merrier," says the proverb. And so it was 
for the most of our party, though we had an exception in the 
persons of the two self-indited Meccans, Mohammed and Ibra- 
heem, sour-tempered individuals, always complaining, quarrel- 
ing, and backbiting. They stated themselves to have been 
corn merchants, ruined in the great inundation, which carried 
away or injured a third of the sacred town in the autumn of 
1861; and since that time had been travelling, so they said, 
from place to place and from chief to chief, to seek from the 
liberality of the faithful wherewithal to pay their debts on re- 
turning to their native city. But their statement abounded 
with intrinsic improbabilities, and when such were pointed out, 



134 Journey from Hay el to Bereydah [Chap, v 

as occasionally was the case, they had ready another entirely 
different story, equally false perhaps, of feud and manslaughter. 
The sum total was that they were beggars and impostors, and, 
so far as we could make out from circumstances hardly worth 
detailing, Mohammed was a cook from Cairo, and Ibraheem a 
bankrupt shopkeeper, native of Gaza or thereabouts. They 
were, however, sufficiently acquainted with Mecca to have much 
to say about that place, and I learnt from them many curious 
particulars regarding the pilgrimage and its accompaniments. 
These two worthies gave us the equivocal pleasure of their 
society not only the whole way to Bereydah, but even to Ri'ad 
itself, where, if my readers will allow me to anticipate for a 
moment the course of events, Ibraheem distinguished himself 
by stealing one of our saddle-bags on his departure. 

The 'Anezah Bedouin, Ghashee, was a different and a more 
amusing character. Though young, he had roved over all that 
lies between Anatolia and Yemen, visited many cities, and made 
acquaintance with innumerable chiefs and tribes, amongst whom 
were some, thus I soon found to my great anxiety, with whom 
I had been myself personally intimate while in Syria. Indeed 
it was a remarkably good fortune that Ghashee and I had never 
met under the tents of Faris-ebn-Hodeyb or Ha'il-ebn-Djandul 
among the Sebaa' or the Soa'limah, or an awkward recognition, 
worse even than that of our Damascene friend at Ha'yel, must 
have resulted. 

The Zobeyr merchant and his associate were polite and in- 
telligent men, fairly conversable, and who told us much worth 
hearing; views and facts to be interwoven, where occasion 
serves, into the many-coloured web of this narrative. 

Among the natives of Kaseem itself, one, by name Foleyh, an 
inhabitant of the large village called 'Eyoon, richly dressed and 
mounted on a handsome horse, was acknowledged by all for 
the most important personage in the caravan. He belonged to 
one of the old and noble families of his province, and was a 
landholder of more than ordinary wealth. When we reach 
'Eyoon we shall be his guests at supper. 

The other members of the caravan presented nothing worthy 
of especial notice, quiet business-like men, taken up with their 
own small affairs of commerce and cultivation, or absorbed in 
the passing events of the journey — every-day characters, soon 



chap, vj L ower Nejed 135 

known and soon forgotten. I must, however, make an excep- 
tion in favour of the negro Ghorra: a thorough African, half- 
cracked, and a fugitive from his master at Medinah, he had 
sought and obtained a kind of protection from Tela! at Ha'yel, 
and was now, legally or not, in possession of his liberty. A 
rich artisan of Shomer had entrusted him with four fine horses, 
and Ghorra, delighted with his newly acquired dignity of free- 
man and jockey, danced, grinned, sang, and diverted himself 
further by playing so many tricks and telling such extraordi- 
nary and inconceivable lies, that he often aroused the anger 
of the more serious Arabs. At Bereydah we parted, but met 
again at Ri'ad, whither he had preceded us by a few days only; 
but those few had been well employed, and he had already 
obtained himself the reputation of being the greatest liar everj 
known in the Nejdean capital — no slight distinction, all things 
considered. 

More than half of the export of Arab horses to Bombay, I 
may here remark, passes by the seaport of Koweyt, especially 
since the growing importance of that active little town in late 
years. The animals themselves are generally from the north of 
Arabia, or the Syrian desert, and of real Arab, though not of 
Nejdean breed. In what consists the difference between ordi- 
nary Arab and Nejdean horses, how far the latter surpass the 
former, where they are to be found, and what becomes of 
them, are points which I must reserve till we reach the noble 
creatures in the heart of Nejed. But the former, of Shomer 
or 'Anezah breed, are high-blooded and often very perfect in all 
their points, and such were those which Ghorra now led for 
Koweyt. 

Thus assembled, on' we went together, now amid granite rocks, 
now crossing grassy valleys, till near sunset we stopped under a 
high cliff at the extreme southerly verge of Djebel 'Aja', or, in 
modern parlance, of Djebel Shomer. The mountain here ex- 
tended far away to right and left ; but in front a wide plain of 
full twenty miles across opened out before us, till bounded 
southwards by the long bluish chain of Djebel Solma, whose 
line runs parallel to the heights we were now to leave, and 
belongs to the same formation and rocky mass denominated 
in a comprehensive way the mountains of Ta'i or Shomer. 
Solma is, however, in height and length unequal to 'Aja', for 



136 Journey from Hay el to Bereydah [Chap, v 

while this latter range crosses nearly two-thirds of Arabia in a 
continuous line, and attains at times an elevation of 1,400 feet 
or thereabouts above the plain, Solma does not seem to own a 
crest of above seven or eight hundred feet at most. 

Here — that is, where we now halted to make our evening 
meal, at the foot of Ajas — was a source of clear water, not 
undeservedly named by the people of the land " the abundant- 
gushing fountain." The full moon rose on the east over the 
great plain like the open sea; we lighted our fires and prepared 
our supper. This was simple enough — unleavened bread, and 
coffee to wash it down. Our only additional dainties were 
dried dates laid in at Ha'yel; no other kind of provision can 
bear the heat of day travelling in this climate. It was indeed 
September, but September in Arabia is not exactly September 
in England, though in these uplands the temperature was colder 
than the southerly degree of latitude taken alone might have led 
us to expect. 

Scarcely was supper over and a pipe smoked than we re- 
mounted our camels, and rode slowly on under the glorious 
moonlight till it almost blended with the dawn. Our line of 
march crossed the plain at right angles to its length, and while 
we advanced by the deceptive glitter of the moonbeams, we soon 
lost all distinct view of the mountains before or behind us, and 
seemed to be in the midst of a vast whitish lake, where patches 
of dark green, formed by a kind of broom and similar shrubs, 
lay around like islands in the water. The soil here is a light 
earth mixed with sand, and so it continues throughout Upper 
Kaseem ; it is not unfertile, but is scantily supplied with water; 
offering tolerable pasture land for flocks and herds, but rarely 
presenting irrigation enough to merit a village. At last, fairly 
tired out and drunk with drowsiness, to translate the Arab 
phrase, we staggered off our camels to the ground, and there 
slept through the short cool hours of late night and early 
morning. 

The whole of the next day, till about four in the afternoon, 
was spent in traversing what remained of this great plain. There 
we fell in with a danger entirely unexpected by myself and my 
companion, but against which the more experienced men of Ka- 
seem had been all along on the look-out; indeed, it was precisely 
the fear of some such occurrence that had urged them to their 



Chap. V] L ower Nejed 137 

forced night march and to the quickened pace of the following 
day. 

This valley, the separation of Solma from 'Aja', is of a length 
much greater than its breadth, and attains westward the very 
neighbourhood of Medinah, thus opening out into the passes of 
Hejaz and the great pilgrim route a little above the town where 
Mahomet lies buried. Now it so happens that thQ portion of 
the Hajj road, corresponding to this opening, is, and always 
has been more than any other, infested by marauding Bedouins, 
principally of the Barb tribe, who have often here stopped the 
entire pilgrim caravans in defiance of their Turkish guard, and 
who, not content with the booty captured in Hejaz, often take 
a run up the very valley which we were now crossing ; and it 
requires all the vigilance and energy of Telal to prevent their 
inroads from becoming habitual, and thus interrupting the regu- 
lar communication between his dominions and Nejed. 

Our band, who had a wholesome fear of meeting with one of 
these nomade foray-parties, here quickened their pace, and the 
event justified their precautions. For, at about three in the 
afternoon, we saw some way off to our west a troop of these 
identical Bedouins coming up from the. direction of Medinah. 
While they were yet in the distance, and half-hidden from view 
by the shrubs and stunted acacias of the plain, we could not 
precisely distinguish their numbers ; but they were evidently 
enough to make us desire, with Orlando, " that we might be 
better strangers." On our side we mustered about fifteen 
matchlocks, besides a few spears- and swords. The Bedouins had 
already perceived us, and continued to approach, though in the 
desultory and circuitous way which they affect when doubtful of 
the strength of their opponent ; still they gained on us more 
than was pleasant. 

Fourteen armed townsmen might stand for a reasonable 
match against double the number of Bedouins, and in any case 
we had certainly nothing better to do than to put a bold face on 
the matter. The 'Eyoon chief, Foleyh, with two of his country- 
men and Ghashee, carefully primed their guns, and then set off 
at full gallop to meet the advancing enemy, brandishing their 
weapons over their heads, and looking extremely fierce. Under 
cover of this manoeuvre the rest of our band set about getting 
their arms ready, and an amusing scene ensued. One had lost 



138 Journey from Ijfayel to Bereydah [Chap, v 

his match, and was hunting for it in his housings, another in 
his haste to ram the bullet home had it stuck midway in the 
barrel, and could neither get it up nor down, the lock of a third 
was rusty and would not do duty ; the women began to whine 
piteously ; the two Meccans, who for economy's sake were both 
riding one only camel, a circumstance which caused between 
them many international squabbles, tried to make their beast 
gallop off with them, and leave the others to their fate, while 
the more courageous animal, despising such cowardly measures, 
insisted on remaining with his companions and sharing their 
lot; — all was thoroughly Arab, much hubbub and little done. 
Had the menacing feint of the four who protected our rear 
proved insufficient, we might all have been in a very bad 
predicament, and this feeling drew every face with reverted 
gaze in a backward direction. But the JJarb banditti, intimi- 
dated by the bold countenance of Foleyh and his companions, 
wheeled about and commenced a skirmishing retreat, in which 
a few shots guiltless of bloodshed were fired for form's sake on 
either side, till at last our assailants fairly disappeared in the 
remote valley. 

Our valiant champions now returned from pursuit, much 
elated with their success, and we journeyed on together, skirting 
the last rocky spur of Solma, close by the spot where Hatim Ta'i, 
the well-known model, half mythic and half historical, of Arab 
hospitality and exaggerated generosity, is said to be buried. 
Here we crossed some low hills that form a sort of offshoot 
to the Solma mountain, and limit the valley ; and the last rays 
of the setting sun gilded to our view in a sandy bottom some 
way off the palm-trees of Feyd. 

This ancient village or townlet is situated on one of the tracks 
that lead diagonally from Coufa or Meshid 'Alee to Medinah, 
and now belongs to the government of Telal. Its local chief or 
president is chosen from among the natives of the place, such 
being in general TelaTs system, for it is only in rare instances 
and for very particular reasons that he appoints one of the 
capital or the central district to be prefect in a distant locality. 
However, all rules admit of exceptions, and immediate recourse 
to the central authority becomes at times indispensable. Ac- 
cordingly extraordinary commissioners are not unknown even in 
Arabia, and we now precisely happened to fall in with one. 



Chap, v] Lower Nejed 139 

Quarrels had arisen between the inhabitants of Feyd, and the 
local governor had proved incompetent to re-establish peace and 
order, so that a king's officer from Ha'yel had just been sent to 
take cognizance of the matter. Hence, at the very hour when we 
entered the village, a little after sunset, a group of inhabitants 
clustered in an open space near the walls marked the presence 
of TelaTs commissioner, who was there holding his court of 
justice. 

In a country where every man is his own lawyer, and where 
the j\jry too is of a simpler formation and much less numerous 
than in English courts, criminal causes are comparatively soon 
settled. The head man of the placed the village I£adee, a 
personage never wanting even in the smallest Arab community, 
and two or three of the principal inhabitants, usually fill the 
place of jurors, though their verdict is after all rather of moral 
than of strictly legal weight. The office of crown advocate 
merges in the judge, and that of counsel in the accused party 
himself. Sometimes, however, the prosecution is conducted 
by the plaintiff, when distinct from the supreme authority 
itself, for instance, in cases of private murder and the like. We 
had the advantage of being present while sentence was passed 
Dii one of the Feyd culprits, and of witnessing its execution 
immediately after; it was identically the same with that which 
many a schoolboy in our own conservative island incurs from 
the justice of his offended master; and here also the sufferer 
screamed much more loudly than the light infliction warranted. 

It is only fair to say that in capital proceedings, and indeed 
in all more serious affairs, Arab justice is by no means equally 
rough and ready. Witnesses are summoned and sworn in, the 
trial lasts many days, appeal from a lower to a higher tribunal 
up to that of the monarch himself is granted if asked, and after 
final sentence has been pronounced, execution is deferred for 
a space of never less than twenty-four hours and sometimes 
prorogued for weeks andf months, till matters often end in a 
free pardon, or in a mitigation of the legal penalty. Nor can 
the most absolute rulers of Arabia violate with impunity the 
restrictions placed by a sense of responsibility and humanity 
on the too rapid course of such trials, or venture to condemn a 
subject to death in time of peace simply on their own authority, 
or without the stated intervention of legal procedures. Here, 



140 Journey from Hay el to Bereydah [Chap, v 

again, we may note an important resemblance between the 
Arab pure and the European. 

We had halted close by the village gate. But Mubarek judged, 
and probably with good reason, that among men whose whole 
thoughts were taken up by feuds and trials, our supper might 
stand a chance of being but a poor one if sought for in the 
cottages of Feyd itself. It happened that some Solibah Bedouins 
were encamped at a few minutes' distance from the village, and 
to their tents we directed our camels, alighted, and after a 
brief introduction we had the pleasure of seeing a faint column 
of smoke arise behind the tent walls — in a land like this, a sure 
sign of kitchen operations. Our supper was not of superfine 
quality, for the Solibahs are poor, but it was abundant in quan- 
tity, and thereby well fitted for travellers like ourselves, after a 
long march of two days and a night with hardly any rest or pause. 

Feyd may be taken as a tolerable sample of the villages met 
with throughout Northern or Upper Kaseem, for they all bear 
a close likeness in their main features, though various in size. 
Imagine a little sandy hillock of about sixty or seventy feet 
high in the midst of a wide and dusty valley; part of the 
eminence itself and the adjoining bottom is covered by low 
earth-built houses, intermixed with groups of the feathery Ithel. 
The grounds in the neighbourhood are divided by brick walls 
into green gardens, where gourds and melons, leguminous 
plants and maize, grow alongside of an artificial irrigation from 
the walls among them; palms in plenty — they were now heavy 
laden with red-brown fruits ; and a few peach or apricot trees 
complete the general lineaments. The outer walls are low, 
and serve more for the protection of the gardens than of the 
dwellings ; here are neither towers nor trenches, nor even, at least 
in many places, any central castle or distinguishable residence 
for the chief; his habitation is of the same one-storied con- 
struction as those of his neighbours, only a little larger. Some 
of these townlets are quite recent, and date from the Shomer 
annexation, which gave this part of the province a degree of 
quiet and prosperity unknown under their former Wahhabee 
rulers. / 

Next morning, the 10th of September, we were all up by 
moonlight, two or three hours before dawn, and off on our road 
to the south-east. The whole country that we had to traverse 



chap, v] Lower Nejed 141 

for the next four days was of so uniform a character, that a few 
words of description may here serve for the landscape of this 
entire stage of our journey. 

Upper Kaseem is an elevated plateau or steppe, and forms 
part of a long upland belt, crossing diagonally the northern half 
of the Peninsula ; one extremity reaches the neighbourhood of 
Zobeyr and the Shatt-el-'Aarab, while the other extends down- 
wards to the vicinity of Medinah. Its surface is in general 
covered with grass in the spring and summer seasons, and with 
shrubs and brushwood at all times, and thus affords excellent 
pasture for sheep and camels. Across it blows the fresh eastern 
gale, so celebrated in Arab poetry urider the name of " Seba 
Nejdin," or " Zephyr of Nejed" (only it comes from precisely 
the opposite corner to the Greek and Roman Zephyr), and con- 
tinually invoked by sentimental bards to bring them news of 
imaginary loves or pleasing reminiscences. No wonder, for 
most of these versifiers being themselves natives of the barren 
Hejaz or the scorching Tehamah, perhaps inhabitants of Egypt 
and Syria, and knowing little of Arabia, except what they have 
seen on the dreary Meccan pilgrim road, they naturally look 
back to with longing and frequently record whatever glimpses 
chance may have allowed them of the cooler and more fertile 
highlands of the centre, denominated by them Nejed in a 
general way, with their transient experience of its fresh and 
invigorating climate, of its courteous men and sprightly maidens. 

But when, nor is this seldom, the sweet smell of the aromatic 
thyme-like plants that here abound, mixes with the light morn- 
ing breeze and enhances its balmy influence, then indeed can 
one excuse the raptures of an Arab Ovid or Theocritus, and 
appreciate — at least I often did — their yearnings after Nejed, 
and all the praises they lavish on its memory. 

Then said I to my companion, while the camels were hastening 

To bear us down the pass between Meneefah and Demar, 
" Enjoy while thou canst the sweets of the meadows of Nejed : 

With no such meadow* and sweets shalt thou meet after this evening. 
Ah ! heaven's blessing on the scented gales of Nejed, 

And its greensward and groves glittering from the spring shower, 
And thy dear friends, wh&i thy lot was cast awhile in Nejed — 

Little hadst thou to conjplain of what the days brought thee ; 
Months flew past, they parsed and we perceived not, 

Nor when their moons were new, nor when they waned. " 



142 Journey from Hay el to Bereydah [Chap, v 

— Regrets for an unwilling departure. Another, now far away 
from the land of his real or imaginary loves, thus expresses his 
longings : — 

Ah ! breeze of Nejed, when thou bio west fresh from Nejed, 

Thy fanning adds love to my love and sorrow to my sorrow. 
When the turtle-dove is cooing in the bright glancing morn 

From its leafy cage over tangled tufts of thyme, 
I wept as a very child would weep, and could bear up no longer, 

And my heart revealed to itself its long-hidden secret. 
Yet they say that when the beloved one is close at hand 

Love cloys, and that distance, too, brings forgetfulness. 
Presence and distance have I tried, and neither aught availed me, 

Save that better is for me when the loved one's abode is near, than 
when it is distant ; 
Save that nearness of the loved one's abode gives little solace 

Unless the loved one herself requite love with love. 

.... But enough, I hope, to awake in the sympathetic reader 
something of the feelings with which myself, with two or three 
companions of more delicate mental fibre than the rest, made 
ourselves " as sad as night only for wantonness," by reciting 
scraps of Arab poetry, while the breeze of Nejed blew over us 
in the uplands of Nejed. And now let us return to the prosaic 
and actual features of the country. 

Sometimes the plain sinks for miles together into a shallow 
irregular basin, where streams pour down and water collects in 
the rainy season, leaving pools not entirely dried up even in 
autumn. Here the alluvial soil bears a more vigorous crop .of 
shrubs, diversified with occasional trees, generally Talh and 
Nebaa', occasionally Sidr; the former is a large tree of roundish 
and scanty leafage, with a little dry berry for fruit, its branches 
are wide-spreading and thorny here and there ; the second is 
more shrub-like in its growth, though its clustered stems often 
attain a considerable height ; its leaf is very small, ovate, and 
of a bright green ; the last is a little but elegant acacia. These 
same trees are, but more seldom, to be met with on the high 
grounds also, especially the Talh. But the ItheL a kind of 
larch, abundant throughout Arabia, and the Ghada euphorbia, 
prefer the sand-slopes and hollows. 

All along this plateau, from distance to distance, and inter- 
secting it at an acute angle, ran long and broad valleys of light 
soil, half chalk, half sand. In these natural trenches water is 



Chap. V] Lower Nejed 143 

always present, not indeed on the surface, but wherever wells 
are sunk, which is generally in the neighbourhood of some 
little conical hillock, that seems placed there merely to serve as 
an indication where men may dig for the source of fertility. 

Hard ly the wells rise the villages of Upper Kaseem; they 
are, if I was rightly informed, about forty in number; their 
respective number of inhabitants appears to vary from five 
hundred to three thousand ; the entire population may be 
reckoned at between twenty -five and thirty thousand souls, a 
slender amount considering the extent of the province. We 
passed eight villages on our way, and halted in four ; one of 
these was Kefa, said to be the largestiri the district. Every 
hamlet is surrounded by a proportional extent of palm-groves, 
gardens, and fields, reaching not unfrequently far down the 
valley, like a long green streak on a yellow carpet, along a series 
of wells, which mark the direction of some underground water- 
course. I was told that a nlw well opened to the east will often 
diminish the supply of a/vesterly source, a fact which may 
imply the general slope dc/wnwards of the continent in the latter 
direction. 

From my own observations I think that the watershed or 
highest line of the whole belt of land which lies between the 
Djowf northward and the steppe whose breadth we now crossed 
inclusively, should be sought for at about sixty miles due east 
of Ha'yel, thus corresponding in longitude with the most elevated 
part of Djebel Toweyk, the "twisted mountain," whose steppes 
form the great central plateau of Nejed Proper to the south. If 
this be the case.,, the backbone or main ridge of Arabia would 
bear from N.N.W. to S.S.E. between 45° and 46 longitude 
Greenwich, and front- 2 9 to 24 latitude north; its greatest 
altitude is behind Djelajil in the province of Sedeyr, whence it 
gradually lowers till it is lost in the sandy desert of the south. 

On each side of this ridge, and to the south also, Arabia 
slopes down coastwards to the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, and 
Indian Ocean, though with some local interruptions arising 
from the lateral chains of 'Aja', Solma, Toweyk, and Dowasir, 
besides the occasional anomalies presented by the seashore line 
and its craggy range, which rises to a great height in the 
northern Hejaz, Djebel 'Aaseer, some points of Yemen and 
Hadramaut, and yet more in 'Oman. 



144 Journey from Hayel to Bereydah [Chap, v 

We journeyed on, making every day about twelve or fourteen 
hours' march, at a rate of about five miles per hour, or a little 
more, — the ordinary pace of a riding camel. We had nothing 
more to fear from Bedouins, and the few whom we might hence- 
forth meet belonged to tribes of Telal's dominions, and were 
subject to his steady rule. I may as well here add, that towards 
the end of this same year 1862, Telal himself headed a success- 
ful campaign against the marauders of the Harb clan, the same 
with whom we had met in the valley of Solma, and reduced 
them to submission sufficient for ensuring his own territories 
against further forays. 

The moon was only a few nights after the full, and we had 
the advantage of her light for early starting. We would thus 
make our track, sometimes across the high grounds and pasture, 
sometimes traversing a sandy river-like valley, till day broke, 
and the sun rushed up, and shone on our left till noon, while we 
rode on, scattered along either side of the irregular streaks that 
marked the way, or in groups of twos and threes, or all together, 
while the men of Kaseem chatted and laughed, the merchants 
conversed, the Meccans quarrelled, the Bedouins, who sympathise 
little with the inhabitants of towns, nor overmuch with each other, 
rode in general each alone and at some distance ; the negro ran 
after his horses, which kept getting loose, and went a-grazing or 
scampered out of reach ; and the women, wrapped up from head 
to foot in their large indigo blue dresses, looked extremely like 
inanimate bundles to be taken to market somewhere ; nobody 
talked to them, and they of course talked to nobody. 

Every morning we halted for coffee-making ; firewood was in 
plenty, and there was no particular hurry or fear of losing time. 
But we were dispensed from any more serious cookery, since 
henceforth our afternoon and night halts were always in the 
villages, where we seldom failed of a hospitable welcome ; and 
were that not forthcoming, we could at any rate purchase where- 
withal to make our evening meal. 

The view was extensive, but rather monotonous. No high 
mountains, no rivers, no lakes, no streams ; but a constant 
reiteration of the landscape features above described. Only we 
sometimes could distinguish far off to the east a few faint blue 
peaks, the extreme offsets of Djebel Toweyk, whither we were 
now slowly approaching. N orth, west, and south, all was open 



chap. V] Lower Nejed 145 

plain. But the breeze blew fresh and the sun shone bright, 
birds twittered in the N bj*ushwood, and lizards and Djerboo'as ran 
about lightly chirping on all sides, or a covey of partridges (it 
was September) whirred up at our approach, and a long file of 
gazelles bounded away from before us, then stopped a minute 
at gaze, and bounded off again. The camels were in good con- 
dition, and most of the riders in excellent humour. 

Our first evening halt after Feyd was at Kefa, where we re- 
mained an entire day. It is a large scattered village, situated 
in a sandy hollow, and not ill provided with water. Like many 
other hamlets of this province, this is adJiriving and increasing 
place ; indeed, we found the inhabitants busy at digging out 
and stone-binding a large new well ; they had just reached the 
first indications of moisture at about ia^elve feet deep. The 
stone here is calcareous, and so it is in general towards the 
centre of the Peninsula ; Djebel Toweyk itself is chiefly of the 
same formation, unlike the black rock and reddish granite of 
Djebel Shomer. 

Our next halting-place was Koseybah, a small hamlet, but 
abounding in gardens and fruit. The little hill up whose eastern 
side the houses are built, is in other parts so thickly covered 
with Ithel and palm as to be almost picturesque. The wells are 
many, and I doubt not that should TelaTs rule continue long 
undisturbed in these parts, Koseybah may in due time become 
considerable. 

The third evening passed at Kowarah. This large village, 
which might almost be called a town, lies in a wooded and well- 
watered hollow, where its groves form a beautiful backpiece to 
the broken and thick ety ground in front. Around, the plain is 
excavated into cliffs from twenty to sixty feet high, and furrowed 
by watercourses, or rank with thick brushwood and long herbage. 
Here is the last southerly station of TelaTs territory; here, 
too, as mostly elsewhere, the chief is of the natives of the 
soil, and order and security are the only tokens of central 
government. 

On the 14th of September we left Kowarah behind, journey- 
ing on till near midday, when, after passing- a few low hills, we 
came to a sudden dip in the land level, and the extent of 
Southern Kaseem burst on our view. 

Now, for the first time, we could in some measure appreciate 

L 



146 Journey from Ha! yd to Bereydah [Chap, v 

the strength of the Wahhabee in his mastery over such a land. 
Before us to the utmost horizon stretched an immense plain, 
studded with towns and villages, towers and groves, ail steeped 
in the dazzling noon, and announcing everywhere life, opulence, 
and activity. The average breadth of this populous district 
is abouf 1 sixty miles, "its length twice as much, or more; it 
lies full" two hundred feet below the level of the uplands, which 
here break off like a wall. Fifty or more good-sized villages 
and four or five large towns form the commercial and agricultural 
centres of the. province, and its surface is moreover thick strewn 
with smaller hamlets, isolated wells and gardens, and traversed 
by a network of tracks in every direction. Here begin and 
hence extend to Djebel Toweyk itself the series of high watch- 
towers that afford the inhabitants a means, denied otherwise 
by their level flats, of discerning from afar the approach of 
foray or invasion, and thus preparing for resistance. For while 
no part of Central Arabia has an older or a better established 
title to civilization or wealth, no part also has been the starting 
point and theatre of so many wars, or witnessed the gathering 
of such numerous armies. 

We halted for a moment on the verge of the uplands to en- 
joy the magnificent prospect before us. Below lay the wide 
plain ; at a few miles' distance we saw the thick palm-groves of 
'Eyoon, and what little of its towers and citadel the dense 
foliage permitted to the eye. Far off on our right, that is, to 
the west, a large dark patch marked the tillage and planta- 
tions which girdle the town of Rass; other villages and hamlets 
too were thickly scattered over the landscape. All along the 
ridge where we stood, and visible at various distances down the 
level, rose the tall circular watch-towers of Kaseem. But 
immediately before us stood a more remarkable monument, 
one that fixed the attention and wonder even of our Arab 
companions themselves. 

For hardly had we descended the narrow path where it winds 
from ledge to ledge down to the bottom, when we saw before 
us several huge stones, like enormous boulders, placed endways 
perpendicularly on the soil, while some of them yet upheld 
similar masses laid transversely over their summit. They were 
arranged in a curve, once forming part, it would appear, of a 
large circle, and many other like fragments lay rolled on the 



Chap, v] Loiver Nejed 147 

ground at a moderate distance ; the number of those still 
upright was, to speak by memory, eight or nine. Two, at about 
ten or twelve feet apart one from the other, and resembling 
huge gate-posts, yet bore their horizontal lintel, a long block 
laid across them ; a few were deprived of their upper traverse, 
the rest supported each its head-piece in defiance of time and 
of the more destructive efforts of man. So nicely balanced did 
one of these cross-bars appear, that in hope it might prove a 
rocking-stone, I guided my camel right under it, and then 
stretching up my riding-stick at arm's-length could just manage 
to touch and push it, but it did aot^stir. Meanwhile the 
respective heights of camel, rider, and stick taken together 
would place the stone in question full fifteen feet from the 
ground. 

These blocks seem, by their quality, to have been hewn 
from the neighbouring limestone cliff, and roughly shaped, but 
present no further trace of art, no groove or cavity of sacrificial 
import, much less anything intended for figure or ornament. 
The people of the country attribute their erection to Darim, 
and by his own hands, too, seeing that he was a giant ; perhaps, 
also, for some magical ceremony, since he was a magician. 
Pointing towards Rass, our companions affirmed that a second 
and similar stone circle, also of gigantic dimensions, existed 
there ; and, lastly, they mentioned a third towards the south- 
west, that is, on the confines of IJejaz. 

That the object of these strange constructions was in some 
measure religious, seems to me hardly doubtful; and if the 
learned conjectures that would discover a planetary symbolism in 
Stonehenge and Carnac have any real foundation, this Arabian 
monument, erected in a land where the heavenly bodies are 
known to have been once venerated by the inhabitants, may 
make a like claim; in fact, there is little difference between 
the stone-wonder of Kaseem and that of Wiltshire, except that 
the one is in Arabia, the other, though the more perfect, in 
England. 

It was now the hour of highest noon. Our band halted in 
the shade of these huge pillars to rest after the fatigue of a long 
march, and tell mythic fables of Darim and his achievements, 
while Foleyh graciously invited the whole party, great and 
small, to supper at his dwelling in the neighbouring town of 

L 2 



r^-S Journey from If ay el to Bereydah [Chap, v 

'Eyoon. Needs not say that the invitation was gladly accepted ; 
and our future host, with his two companions, set off at once 
for the town, yet nearly two hours distant, to precede and 
prepare for the rest of the company, whilst we moved a little 
farther on, and took up temporary quarters and repose in 
the shade of a fruit-laden palm-grove near at hand by the 
side of a well, there to drink fresh water, and wait till the 
heat of the day should pass and the time come for pursuing 
our route to 'Eyoon. While we thus pause, and, by the gar- 
dener's permission, pick up ripe dates where they lie strewn by 
the water-channel's edge, a few words on the natural history 
and general character of the country around may not be 
ill-timed : they will serve for an introduction to a land no less 
new to my readers, perhaps, than it was to ourselves. 

The Arabic word " Kaseem " denotes a sandy but fruitful 
ground. Such is, in fact, the leading idea of this province. 
The soil, red or yellow, appears indeed at first sight of little 
promise. Yet, unlike most things, it is better than it seems, 
and wherever irrigation reaches it bears a copious and varied 
vegetation. Fortunately, water is here to be met with every- 
where, and at very little depth below the surface : six feet or 
thereabouts was the farthest measure that I witnessed in any 
well of Kaseem from the curb-stone to the water-line, often 
it was much less. Mine was an autumn experience, when 
moisture is at its minimum in this climate, but in winter I was 
told that the wells fill to overflowing, and give rise to small 
lakes, some of which, though of course much shrunken in 
dimensions, outlast the summer, and even find their place in 
maps, though undeserving of the honour. The prevailing aspect 
of the land is level, but capricious-seeming. Sand-hills and 
slopes of fifty or sixty feet in height are not uncommon. These 
slopes are for the most part clothed with little climbing copses 
of Ithel and Ghada. 

Here, as in. most parts of Arabia, the staple article of culti- 
vation is thdr date-palm. Of this tree there are, however, many 
widely-difTe/ing species, and Kaseem can boast of containing the 
best known anywhere, the JQialas of Has a alone excepted. The 
ripening Reason coincides with the latter half of August and the 
first of September, and we had thus an ample opportunity for 
testing the produce. Those who, like most Europeans at home, 



Chap, v] Lower Nejcd 149 

I only know the date from the dried specimens of that fruit shown 
/ beneath a label in shop-windows, can hardly imagine how deli- 
cious it is when eaten fresh and in Central Arabia. Nor is it 
1 when newly-gathered heating, a defect inherent to the preserved 
\ fruit everywhere; nor does its richness, however great, bring 
satiety: in short, it is an article of food alike pleasant and 
healthy. Its cheapness in its native land might astonish a 
Londoner. Enough of the very best dates from the Bereydah 
gardens to fill a large Arab handkerchief, about fifteen inches 
each way, almost to bursting, cost Barakat and myself the 
moderate sum of three farmings. We hung jit up from the roof- 
beam of our apartmen£^to preserve the dubious fruit from the 
ants, and it continueirto drip molten sweetness into a sugary 
pool on the floor JgTelow for three days together, before we had 
demolished the pontents, though it figured at every dinner and 
supper during tnat period. 

Date-trees are in consequence the main source of landed 
Arab wealth, and a §diall cluster of palms is often the entire 
maintenance of a p$or townsman or villager. The fjpait partly 
serves him and his household for aliment, in which it holds 
about the same proportion that bread does in France or Ger- 
many; the rest, often in large quantities, is exported to Yemen 
and Hejaz, in this respect less favoured by nature. To cut 
down the date-trees of an enemy is a great achievement in time 
of war, to plant with them a new piece of ground the first sign 
of increasing prosperity. 

Fruit trees of various kinds, generally resembling those of 
Shomer, but more productive, are here also met with. Corn- 
fields, maize, millet, vetches, and the like, surround the villages, 
and afford a copious harvest, besides melons and pot-herbs. 
But the extent of cultivation and tillage is limited by the 
necessity of artificial irrigation. 

Another produce of Kaseem, and it was like an old friend to 
me "after so many years of absence from India, is the cotton- 
shrub, identical in species with that cultivated in Guzerat and 
Cutch. The inhabitants are well acquainted with its use, but 
the quantity grown is too slender to serve for foreign exporta- 
tion. Under more propitious circumstances it might add much 
to the wealth of the country, for the climate and soil concur 
to give the plant sufficient vigour, and its crop is not less 




15° Journey from ffd'yel to Bereydah [Chap, v 

copious here than in India, nor did the quality seem to me 
anyhow inferior. 

Here also, for the first time, I met with a narcotic plant very 
common farther south, and gifted with curious qualities. Its 
seeds, in which the deleterious principle seems chiefly to reside, 
when pounded and administered in a small dose, produce effects 
much like those ascribed to Sir Humphry Davy's laughing 
gas ; the patient dances, sings, and performs a thousand extra- 
vagances, till after an hour of great excitement to himself and 
amusement to the bystanders, he falls asleep, and on awaking 
has lost all memory of what he did or said while under the 
influence of the drug. To put a pinch of this powder into the 
coffee of some unsuspecting individual is a not uncommon 
joke, nor did I hear that it was ever followed by serious 
consequences, though an over-quantity might perhaps be dan- 
gerous. I myself tried it on two individuals, but in proportions, 
if not absolutely homoeopathic, still sufficiently minute to keep 
on the safe side of risk, and witnessed its operation, laughable 
enough, but very harmless. The plant that bears these berries 
hardly attains in Kaseem the height of six inches above the 
ground, but in 'Oman I have seen bushesof it three or four feet 
in growth, and wide-spreading. VThe stems are woody, and of 
a yellow tinge when barked ; the leaf of a dark-green colour and 
pinnated, with about twenty leaflets on either side ; the stalks 
smooth and shining; the flowers are yellow, and grow in tufts, the 
anthers numerous ; the fruit is a capsule, stuffed with a greenish 
padding, in which lie embedded two or three black seeds, in 
size and shape much like French beans ; their taste sweetish, but 
with a peculiar opiate flavour; the smell heavy and almost 
sickly. While at Sohar in 'Oman, where this plant abounds, 
I collected some specimens intended for botanical recognition 
at home, but they with much else were lost in my subsequent 
shipwreck. 

Stramonium Datura, or thorn-apple, is not uncommon, and its 
properties are well known, not for medicine, but for poison and 
quackery. But I vainly looked for the Indian hemp or hasheesh 
plant, nor did any one appear acquainted with it or its use, 
whereat I much wondered. Coffee does not grow here ; it is 
imported from Yemen, sometimes by the direct road of Wadi 
Nejran, more commonly through Mecca. Articles of Egyptian 



Chap, v j L ower Nejed 1 5 1 

and of European manufacture are also brought hither from 
Mecca and Djiddah; and the phosphorized amadou boxes of 
Pollak, from Vienna, after passing through the sacred cities of 
Arabia, are to be met with in the shops of Bereydah and 'Oney- 
zah. An important branch of commerce was once carried on 
with Damascus, but of late years and under Wahhabee rule it 
has ceased to exist. The route northward from Kaseem to 
Syria does not pass by Djebel Shorn er, but follows a straighter 
and easier line through Kheybar, and thence up the ordinary 
pilgrim-way. 

Much regarding the character of the inhabitants may be col- 
lected from what I have already said; in_pnysical endowments 
and stature they are somewhat inferior to the men of Shomer, 
and in certain respects to the inhabitants of Upper Nejed, 
but they surpass either in commercial and industrial talents ; 
they present, also, much of the gay and cheerful spirit of the 
former, with not a little of the pertinacity and clannishness of 
the latter. But to these qualities the inhabitants of Kaseem 
add a dash of the cunning and restlessness of their Hejaz neigh- 
bours, with whom they have a slight degree of outward con- 
formity, besides a share, though barely perceptible at first sight, 
of that selfish egotism which stamps the caste of Mecca and 
Medinah, even more than that of Tennyson's " Vere de Vere." 
But in spite of these unfavourable points, the Shomer type 
predominates decidedly in Kaseem, and the population in 
general offers good elements capable of being worked out 
into better things than can be hoped for under the present 
administration. 

The sun was already declining when we quitted our palm- 
grove for the path leading to the town of 'Eyoon, where in the 
meantime Foleyh had been killing his lambs and cooking his 
rice for our entertainment ; and considering that he had nearly 
thirty famished guests to provide for, we could not in common 
fairness but allow him a reasonable interval for preparation. 
Moreover the number of our party was now augmented by four 
beings of an entirely new order. These were travelling Dar- 
weeshes, two natives of Cabul, a third from Bokhara, and the 
fourth a Beloochee, who had taken the route through Central 
Arabia on their return from Mecca to their own respective 
countries in the East, and here their path fell in with and 



1 5 2 Journey from Hay el to Bereydah [CHAP> v 

awhile coincided with our own. One of them, the Beloochee, 
was an elderly man, of fifty or sixty, to judge by his white 
beard and wrinkled features, thin, tall, and hardly knowing a 
word of Arabic ; his three companions were younger and stouter ; 
all however bore evident marks of the long hardships and great 
fatigue of their protracted journey made entirely on foot, in such 
a climate and over such roads. Those from Cabul and Bokhara 
declared that before they could hope to regain their native 
hearths their pilgrimage would have lasted nearly two years, nor 
could it well take less after their manner of travelling. They 
all wore the peculiar costume of their profession and country — 
the high wool cap, the large upper robe, loose trowsers, and a 
wrapper cast across the shoulders. These Darweeshes lived 
on alms begged by the way, and had a very poor and a not 
undevout appearance. 

However, few of our band welcomed their arrival, or were at 
all anxious to admit them into their company. The Darweesh 
in Inner Arabia is, in every respect, a fish out of water. The 
Wahhabees in general detest them, and they are scarcely better 
looked upon by the rest of the Arab population, in that they 
are in their way of life the embodiment of a religious system 
commonly regarded with indifference, often with aversion. The 
new comers were accordingly greeted by our companions with 
many sarcastic remarks and unfavourable comments ; till at 
last Arab good-nature got the better, and the Darweeshes were 
admitted to the participation of such advantages and assistance 
as travellers on the road can mutually afford or receive. 

We were soon under the outer walls of 'Eyoon, a good-sized 
town containing at least ten thousand inhabitants according to 
my rough computation. Its central site, at the very juncture of 
the great northern and western lines of communication, ren- 
ders it important, and for this reason it is carefully fortified, that 
is, for the country, and furnished with watch-towers, much re- 
sembling manufacturing chimneys in size and shape, besides a 
massive and capacious citadel. My readers may anticipate 
analogous, though proportionate, features in most other towns 
and villages of this province. We halted close by the northern 
portal, and here deposited our baggage, over which two of the 
band remained to keep guard in our absence, while we accom- 
panied Foley h to his dwelling. 



chap, vj L ower Nejed 1 5 3 

We passed a large tank, more than half full of standing water, 
near the centre of the town, and skirted for some minutes the 
wall of the citadel, which appears to be of ancient date. At last 
we reached a side-door in the street, and hence were ushered 
into a large and well-planted garden, full of the loftiest palm- 
trees that I have ever seen. Here a square arbour, capable of 
containing forty men, had been erected under the shade of the 
palms ; it was on this occasion well spread with mats and car- 
pets, upon which the guests arranged themselves according to 
rank and condition. Meanwhile, Foleyh, who had already 
exchanged the dust-soiled clothes of the journey for clean shirts 
(it is the fashion here to multiply this Important article of rai- 
ment by putting on a second over the first and a third over the 
second), and a magnificent upper robe of scarlet cloth, looking 
a very " pretty " man, stood at the entrance to introduce the 
guests and to superintend the solemn distribution of coffee by 
the youngsters of the family. In due time the supper itself 
arrived, two monstrous piles of rice and mutton, with some ij 
hashed vegetables, spices, and the rest, and dates for a side/ 
dish. Never were platters more speedily lightened of their con- 
tents, and loud praises were by all present bestowed on the cook 
and on his master. The sun had set, and as we were to start 
on our way during the night, it was impossible for us to remain 
longer within the town, whose gates were strictly closed during 
the hours of darkness. So we overwhelmed Foleyh with thanks 
and good wishes, and then returneclVp our baggage, while 
those who had been on guard in our absence now scampered 
off to the scene of hospitality, to get what share of the meal the 
jaws of their predecessors might not have devoured. It must 
have been a very scanty portion. 

Between the town walls and the sand-hills close by was a 
sheltered spot, where we took about four hours of sleep, till 
the waning moon rose. Then all were once more in movement, 
camels gnarling, men loading, and the doctor and his apprentice 
mounting their beasts, all for Bereydah. But that town was 
distant, and when day broke at last there was yet a long road 
to traverse. This now lay amid mounds and valleys, thick 
with the vegetation already described; and somewhat after sun- 
rise we took a full hour to pass the gardens and fields of Ghat, 
a straggling village, where a dozen wells supplied the valley 



154 



Journey from IJayel to Bereydah [Chap, v 



with copious irrigation. On the adjoining hillocks — I may not 
call them heights — was continued the series of watch-towers, 
corresponding with others farther off that belonged to villages 
seen by glimpses in the landscape : I heard, but soon forgot, 
their names. Inability to note down at once similar details was 
a great annoyance to me; but the sight of a pencil and pocket- 
book would have been just then particularly out of place, and 
I was obliged to trust to memory, which on this, as on too many 
other occasions, played me false. My notes, too, taken when 
circumstances permitted, were lost in part in the shipwreck 
off Barka ; others, jotted down on loose scraps of paper, dis- 
appeared, I know not how, while I was in the dreary delirium 
of typhoid fever at Aboo-Shahr and Basrah. Surely my reader 
must be very hard to satisfy, if this catalogue of mishaps does 
not suffice him by way of apology for the defectiveness of my 
broken narrative. 

We were now drawing on towards the scene of the great con- 
flict which was ultimately to decide the destinies of 'Oneyzah 
and Kaseem, and some apprehension of falling in with foraging 
parties prevailed throughout our band. From Bedouins, indeed, 
here and henceforth, travellers have nothing to apprehend; they 
are few in number and feeble in force. But a detachment from 
either of the hostile armies might make exercise of military 
license to the detriment of our baggage or persons. We had just 
left behind us the last plantations of Ghat, and all thoughts and 
tongues were busy with fear and hope, when the negro horse- 
dealer, Ghorra, thought the opportunity for a practical joke too 
good to be neglected. Accordingly, after absenting himself 
for a few minutes, he rode suddenly up to the travellers with a 
terrified look, and informed them that he had just seen a large 
squadron of lancers and musketeers making right for our road. 
For several minutes the black liar enjoyed the confusion, alarm, 
preparations, and bustle produced by his news. The Meccans 
nearly fainted, and the women cried lamentably. But at last 
some bolder spirits, who had ventured a reconnoitre in the 
direction of the supposed enemy, returned with the consoling 
intelligence that it was all an invention. Anger then took the 
place of cowardice, and Ghorra hardly escaped rough usage 
for his gratuitous alarm. 

A march of ten to twelve hours had tired us, and the weather 



chap, v] L ower Nejed 155 

was oppressively close, no uncommon phenomenon in Kaseem, 
where, what between low sandy ground and a southerly latitude, 
the climate is much more sultry than in Djebel Shomer, or the 
mountains of Toweyk. So that we were very glad when the 
ascent of a slight eminence discovered to our gaze the long- 
desired town of Bereydah, whose oval fortifications rose to view 
amid an open and cultivated plain. It was a view for Turner. 
An enormous watch-tower, near a hundred feet in height, a 
minaret of scarce inferior proportions, a mass of bastioned walls, 
such as we had not yet witnessed in Arabia, green groves around 
and thickets of Ithel, all under the dreamy glare of noon, offered 
a striking spectacle, far surpassing whatever I had anticipated, 
and announced populousness and wealth. We longed to enter 
those gates and walk those streets. But we had yet a delay to 
wear out. At about a league from the town our guide Mubarek 
led us off the main road to the right, up and down several little 
but steep sand-hills and hot declivities, till about two in the 
afternoon, half roasted with the sun, we reached, never so w T eary, 
his garden gate. 

/ Here, in a snug country-house, much resembling in size and 
'construction many a peasant's dwelling in Southern Italy, lived 
Mubarek, with his family, brothers, and other relatives. Around 
was a pretty garden, with a central tank full of cool clear water 
from the adjoining well, and bordered by cotton plants, maize, 
and flowering shrubs, with date-trees at intervals ; close by the 
tank stood an arbour of open trellis-work, but vine-roofed from 
the sun ; just the place for dusty heat-wearied travellers to re- 
pose in and enjoy the freshness of the neighbouring pool. Here 
our host, without imitating the bad habit of the Druses in Le- 
banon (who begin by asking their guest what he would like, 
instead of anticipating his kiodesty), at once brought mats and 
cushions of country fashion, tod when we had a moment taken 
breath, half reclining under the chequered shade, set before us 
a dainty dish of fresh dates, the produce of his orchard. Before 
long the members of the family who chanced to be at home, 
old and young, appeared one after another to pay their wel- 
come, the women excepted, in whom such forwardness would 
be a breach of etiquette. For although the absolute seclusion, 
which, it is well known, imprisons, physically and morally, the 
fair sex in some Mahometan lands, is seldom if ever observed 



156 Journey from Hay el to Bereydah [Chap, v 

in Arabia, where women bear a great part in active life and do- 
mestic cares, keep shops, buy, sell, and sometimes even go to 
war; yet there is not the easy and straightforward mixture of 
society that distinguishes Europe; and the female portion of 
the household, though not absolutely in the dark, is yet under 
a kind of shade. Thus women, young or old (I mean, of course, 
elderly), never sit at table with the men of the family, rarely 
join in their pleasure meetings, and above all may not m seem- 
liness thrust themselves forward to welcome guests or strangers 
and converse with them. However, if one remains long enough 
to become in a manner part of the family, the ladies too end by 
growing more sociable, will now and then join in chat, and take 
interest in what is going on. Of course, in the dwellings of the 
poor women and men all live together, and little separation is 
or can be kept up; a narrow home going far to bring its tenants 
on a level. But in richer families and chieftains , houses the 
women are bound to occupy a separate quarter, whence, how- 
ever, curiosity or business often draws them forth into the apart- 
ments of the other sex, Nor is the covering veil, though gener- 
ally worn, nearly so strict an obligation as in Syria or Egypt. 
It is matter of custom, not of creed, and readily dispensed with 
when occasion requires. Indeed, in some parts of Arabia, 
'Oman for instance, and its provinces, it is barely in use. Nor 
are Bedouin women apt to impose on their grimed and wizened 
faces a concealment that might on the whole be for their ad- 
vantage. Among the rigid Wahhabees alone the veil and the 
harem acquire something like exactness, and there Arab liberty 
consents to inflict on itself something of the ceremoniousness 
of Islam. 

Our afternoon and evening passed very pleasantly with the 
Mubareks, great and small, and a night's repose in the arbour — ■ 
for the climate at this time of the year did not require the closer 
shelter of the house-roof— put us in condition to continue our 
way to Bereydah. The suburb of " Doweyrah," "the small knot 
of houses," where we now were, is situated about a league or 
rather less from the town, but of the latter we could from hence 
see nothing, so thick grew the Ithel on the intervening sand- 
ridges. Our present intention was to make a very short stay at 
Bereydah, and thence hasten on without delay to the interior 



chap, vj L ower Nejed 1 5 7 

and reach the capital of Nejed, where a longer sojourn would 
evidently be desirable. But man proposes and God disposes, 
and we had to learn by experience that, after all imaginable 
precautions and devices, the entrance of the Wahhabee strong- 
hold was not so easy a matter, nor to be had for the first 
asking. 



iSS 



CHAPTER VI 
Bereydah 

I cannot like, dread sire, your royal cave ; 
Because I see, by all the tracks about, 
Full many a beast goes in, but none come out. 

Pope 

A Strange Sight on the Way to Bereydah — Indo-Persian Pilgrim Encamp- 
ment — feysuVs Conduct towards the Pilgrims — Aboo-Boteyn, his Extortions 
and Flight— The Caravan at Bereydah — Mohanna — His Charadei', 
Policy — His Extortions — Our new Lodgings — Difficulty of Proceeding 
further — Visit to Mohanna — His Castle — Its Architecture — Mohanna? s 
R^hawah — Nejed and Wahhabees — Our Embarrassment — Meeting with 
Aboo-'Eysa — His Family, past History, and Adventures — His Position 
under the JR.? ad Government — His Character — He offers to conduct us to 
Ri'ad — A Day at Bereydah — Visit to the Persian Encampment — Market^ 
place — Central Square — Mosque — Want of Inscriptions — -Salt — Cha- 
racter of the Town and Population — The Houses — Conversation at 
Bereydah — Walk in the Gardens — Arab Hydraidic Machines — Military 
Operations — The Nejdean Camp — A Skirmish with the Men of ' Oneyzah 
— Part borne by the Bereydah Townsmen — Evening — Arab and Persian 
Voices — Night and Morning — Villages of the Neighbourhood — Influence 
of the Wahhabee Goverm?ient on Commerce, Agriculture, and Cattle 
Breeding — General Reaction — Change effected by the Sdood Dynasty in 
Central Arabia — Compariso7t between Wahhabees aitd Osmanlis — Visit 
to the Suburbs of ''Oneyzah — Mohammed-'' Alee- esh- Shir azee — His Corre- 
spondence with Feysul — His Motives for a Journey to Ri'ad — He agrees 
with Aboo-^Eysa — His History and Character — Habbash and the 
Coffee-mortar — We leave Bereydah. 

The morning was bright, yet cool, when we got free of the 
maze of Ithel and sand-slopes, and entered the lanes that 
traverse the garden circle round the town, in all quiet and 
security. But our approach to Bereydah was destined to 
furnish us an unexpected and undesired surprise, though 
indeed less startling than that which discomposed our first 



Chap. VI] 



A rabs and Persians 



159 



arrival at Ha'yel. We had just passed a well near the angle of 
a garden wall, when we saw a man whose garb and appearance 
at once bespoke him for a muleteer of the north, watering a 
couple of mules at the pool hard by. Barakat and I stared 
with astonishment, and could hardly believe our eyes. For 
since the day we left the 'Ashja'yeeyah of Gaza for the south- 
eastern desert, we had never met with a like dress nor with 
these animals ; and how then came they here % But there was 
no mistaking either the man or the beasts, and as the muleteer 
raised his head to look at the passers-by, he also started at our 
sight, and evidently recognized in us something that took him 
unawares. But the riddle was soon solved. A few paces'"] 
farther on, our way opened out on the great plain that lies 
immediately under the town walls to the north. This space 
was now covered with tents and thronged with men of foreign \ 
dress and bearing, mixed with Arabs of town and desert, women 
and children, talking and quarrelling, buying and selling, going 
and coming ; everywhere baskets full of dates and vegetables, 
platters bearing eggs and butter, milk and whey, meat hung 
on poles, bundles of firewood, &c. &c, stood ranged in rows, 
horsemen and camel-men were riding about between groups 
seated round fires or reclining against their baggage; in the 
midst of all this medley a gilt ball surmounted a large white 
pavilion of a make that I had not seen since last I left India 
some eleven years before, and numerous smaller tents of striped 
cloth and certainly not of Arab fashion clustered around; a 
lively scene, especially of a clear morning, but requiring some 
explanation from its exotic and non-Arab character. 

These tents belonged to the great caravan of Persian pilgrims, 
on their return from Medinah Ito Meshid 'Alee by the road of 
£aseem, and hence all this unusual concourse and bustle. Taj- 
Djehan, the relict of 'Asaph Dowlah, a name familiar to Anglo- 
Bengalee readers, was the principal personage in the band, and 
hers was the gilt-topped tent. Several Indians of Lucknow and 
Delhi, relatives or attendants, were in her train, and to her 
litter appertained the mules and muleteer whose apparition had 
so amazed us. The rest of the caravan was composed partly of 
Persians proper, natives of Shiraz, Ispahan, and other Iranian 
towns, and partly of a still larger number belonging to the 
hybrid race that forms the Shiya'ee population of Meshid 'Alee, 



) 



160 Bereydah [Chap, vi 

Kerbelah, and Bagdad. All of course were of the sect just 
mentioned, though very diverse in national origin. Along with 
them, and belonging to the first or genuine Persian category, 
was a personage scarcely less important than the Begum her- 
self, namely, Mohammed-' Alee-esh-Shirazee, native of Shiraz, 
as his denomination implies, and representative of the Persian 
government at Meshid 'Alee, actually commissioned by orders 
from Teheran with the unenviable office of director or head- 
man in this laborious and not over-safe pilgrimage. With him 
and with his retinue we shall soon become very intimately 
acquainted. The total of the caravan amounted to two hundred, 
or rather more. 

They had assembled at Ri'ad in Nejed, where they had 
arrived, some from the northerly rendezvous of Meshid 'Alee, 
and others from that of Aboo-Shahr (often corrupted on maps 
into Bushire), whence they had crossed the Persian Gulf to the 
port of 'Ojeyr, and thus passed on to Hof hoof and Ri'ad. Here 
Feysul, after exacting the exorbitant sum which Wahhabee 
orthodoxy claims from Shiya'ee heretics as the price of permis- 
sion to visit the sacred city and the tomb of the Prophet, had 
assigned them for guide and leader one 'Abd-el-'Azeez-Aboo- 
Boteyn, a Nejdean of the Nej deans, who was to conduct and 
plunder them in the name of God and the true faith all the rest 
of the way to Mecca and back again. 

I mentioned in a former chapter the negotiations carried on 
by Telal with the Persian government to obtain the passage of 
this annual caravan through his own dominions, and I related 
his partial success and liberal conduct towards the few w T hose 
good luck led them by the northern route through Ha'yel. But 
the way by Central Nejed is more direct, and for that reason 
preferable for the Persians, on condition of having tolerable 
immunity from danger and pillage. Thus, in order to spare the 
expenses and fatigues of a comparatively roundabout track, 
though after all the difference between the two roads does not 
exceed six or eight days, they had consented to compound for 
the payment of a fixed sum to the Wahhabee autocrat, and to 
rely on his honour for a safe passage and needful assistance. 

Feysul, overjoyed to draw this additional silver stream to his 
mill, waived the motives of bigotry and national hatred which 
had more than once led his predecessors to refuse the most 



Chap, vi] A rabs and Persians 1 6 1 

advantageous offers when made by heretics. Indeed, "for a 
consideration" he would probably have furnished the Devil 
himself with passport, camel, and guide. Still he felt himself 
bound in conscience to make the unbelievers pay roundly for 
the negative good treatment which he thus consented to afford, 
and took his measures accordingly. 

Forty gold tomans were fixed as the claim of the Wahhabee 
treasury on every Persian pilgrim for his passage through Ri'ad, 
and forty more for a safe-conduct through the rest of the em- 
pire; eighty in all. On his side Feysul was to furnish from 
among his own men a guide invested with absolute power in 
whatever regarded the special arrangement of the march, and 
we may without any breach of charity suppose that the king's 
servant could not do less than imitate the good example of his 
master in fleecing the heretics to the best of his ability. Every 
local governor on the way would naturally enough take the hint, 
and strive not to let the " enemies of God " (for this is the sole 
title given by Wahhabees to all except themselves) go by with- 
out spoiling them more or less. So that, all counted up, the 
legal and necessary dues levied on every Persian Shiya'ee while 
traversing Central Arabia and under Wahhabee guidance and 
protection, amounted, I found, to about one hundred and fifty 
gold tomans, equalling nearly sixty pounds sterling English, no 
light expenditure for a Persian, and no despicable gain to an 
Arab. 

But besides this, seeming casualties might occur, helping to 
shear the wool still closer, nay, sometimes taking off the skin 
altogether. Such was the case with the hapless Persians at the 
very time of our meeting. Their conductor, Aboo-Boteyn, had 
taken from them whatever custom entitled him to by way of 
advanced payment, and charged the disconsolate Taj-Djehan 
more especially at the rate of her supposed wealth rather than 
of any fixed precedent. But he had done more, and by dint of 
threats and bullying of all descriptions, including blows admi- 
nistered by his orders to the Persian commissioner, Mohammed 
'Alee himself, and in his own tent, had managed to get count- 
less extras out of those entrusted to his guidance, till he had 
filled his saddle-bags with tomans, and loaded his camels with 
plunder. But on his return along with his injured proteges from 
Medinah, whither he had led them to complete their devotion 

M 






1 62 Bereydah [Chap, vi 

and his profit, he began to fear lest they should lodge a com- 
plaint against him at Bereydah, which lay on their road, the 
more so that Mohammed, Feysul's third son, was now there in 
person, and that he should ultimately be forced to refund his 
ill-gotten wealth, not, indeed, to its Shiya'ee owners, for of that 
there was little danger under Wahhabee arbitration, but to the 
Ri'ad treasury ; while he himself might come in for an awkward 
impeachment for embezzling what in Feysul's eyes should be 
for the common benefit of the "faithful." Probably his fears 
were not wholly groundless; but at the worst a few presents 
conveyed in time to Mohanna, the governor of Bereydah, to 
Mohammed, and to his royal father, would assuredly have 
"made all well again." But to this sacrifice Aboo-Boteyn's 
grasping avarice could not consent, and in compliance with its 
dictates he resolved on the very worst course possible for him, 
namely, that of anticipating investigation by flight. So when the 
pilgrims arrived at 'Eyoon, the same village where we supped 
with Foleyh two nights since, 'Aboo-Boteyn absconded, money 
and all, and took refuge in the rebel town of 'Oneyzah, leaving 
Taj-Djehan, Mohammed 'Alee, and the rest, to find their way 
out of Arabia by themselves as best they might. 

" For a consideration," the good folks of 'Eyoon guided the 
distracted pilgrims to Bereydah. But misfortunes " come not 
single spies;" and the Persians had now to exemplify a 
certain ill-omened proverb touching the frying-pan and the 
fire. At Bereydah they had fallen into the clutches of a 
genuine Wahhabee, and lay at the tender mercies of the most 
wicked and heartless of all Nejdean governors, Mohanna-el- 
'Anezee. 

This was that same Mohanna whom 'Abd-Allah, the son of 
Feysul, had some years before nominated vice-ruler of Bereydah 
and Kaseem, after the massacre of the 'Aley'yan family. Mo- 
hanna had in every respect come up to his master's desires, 
and followed in his footsteps. Every imaginable means was 
employed by this shrewd and bad man to break the spirit of 
Kaseem, to exhaust its resources, and to extinguish the last 
sparks of liberty. All the Wahhabee regulations against silk, 
tobacco, ornaments, and so forth, were rigorously enforced, to 
the ruin of commerce, while the richest merchants and busiest 
traders were, by a system of which Hasa will soon furnish us 



Chap, vi] A rabs and Persians 1 63 

with a yet more striking example, taken away at a moment's 
notice from their counters and warehouses, to hang a matchlock 
on their unwilling shoulders, gird on a sword whose use they 
had well-nigh forgotten, and mount on ever-recurring Wahhabee 
expeditions against the enemies of God and the faith, that is, 
most often against their own yet independent countrymen, till 
all of them had lost their trade, and many their lives. Mean- 
while Mohanna gratified his own personal rajpacity, even more 
than the spiteful feelings of his employer, by fines, exactions, 
and mostly involuntary contributions, on every pretext and on 
every occasion ; and confident that some^little private peculation 
might well be excused in so valuable a "servant of government, 
he accumulated to his own uses more wealth than Kaseem had 
ever seen in the hands of one single individual, however abso- 
lute. But justly careful not to put the good cause in danger of 
losing his personal services, he never went himself on the expe- 
ditions in which he jeopardized the unimportant lives of the 
Kaseem " polytheists " — for so their conquerors still designate 
them — and remained at home to brood over his money-bags 
while others gathered the money for him on the scene of 
danger. 

At this man's orders were now Taj-Djehan and her fellow- 
pilgrims. He had already before our arrival detained them a 
good fortnight under the walls of Bereydah, while he put every 
engine of extortion into play against them, and awaited from 
Feysul some further hint as to the conduct he was to hold with 
these " enemies of God." 

Passing a little on to the east, we left the crowded encamp- 
ment on one side and turned to enter the city gates. Here, 
and this is generally the case in the larger Arab towns of old 
date, the fortifications surround houses alone, and the gardens 
all lie without, sometimes defended — at 'Oneyzah, for example — 
by a second outer girdle of walls and towers, but sometimes, as 
at Bereydah, devoid of any mural protection. The town itself 
is composed exclusively of streets, houses, and market-places, 
and bears in consequence a more regular appearance than the 
recent and village-like arrangements of the Djowf and even of 
Ha'yel. We passed a few streets, tolerably large but crooked, 
and then made the camels kneel down in a little square or 
public place, where I remained seated by them on the baggage, 

M 2 



1 64 Bereydah [Chap, vi 

switch in hand, like an ordinary Arab traveller, and Barakat 
with Mubarek went in search of lodgings. 

Very long did the half-hour seem to me during which I had 
thus to mount guard till my companions returned from their 
quest ; the streets were full of people, and a disagreeable crowd 
of the lower sort was every moment collecting round myself and 
my camels, with all the inquisitiveness of the idle and vulgar in 
every land. Nor was it always easy for me, thus " beset and 
sprited " with more fools than ever Imogen was, to keep up the 
equanimity of temper and sedate reserve proper to well-bred 
Arabs on such occasions. At last my companions came back 
to say that they had found what they wanted ; a kick or two 
brought the camels on their legs again, and we moved off to 
our new quarters. 

The house in question was hardly more than five minutes' 
r alk from theXorth gate, and at about an equal distance only 
from the great market-place on the other side. Its position 
was therefore good. It possessed two large rooms on the ground 
storey, and three smaller, besides a spacious courtyard sur- 
rounded by high walls. A winding stair of irregular steps 
and badly lighted, like all in the Nejed, led up to an extent 
of flat roof, girt round by a parapet six feet high, and divided 
into two compartments by a cross-wall, thus affording 2, very 
tolerable place for occupation morning and evening, at the 
hours when the side-walls might yet project enough shade to 
shelter those seated alongside of them, besides an excellent 
sleeping-place for night. The entire building was old, of per- 
haps two hundred years or more, solid, and with some preten- 
sions to symmetry in its parts ; the doors were of massive and 
carved Ithel-wood,-and a fireplace in one of the rooms below 
evidently markejjF it out for a kitchen. Another tolerably 
spacious apartment of oblong shape was a K'hawah or parlour; 
the little rooms had been tenanted by the ladies of the mansion, 
who now, with the rest of the family, moved off to take up their 
abode next door. 

The owner now arrived to greet us, keys in hand. Ahmed 
was his name, a good-humoured man, but sly, and inclined to 
drive a hard bargain with the strangers. However, my asso- 
ciates, both quite as shrewd as he, soon reduced his terms 
within reasonable limits, and I think that a Londoner will 



Chap, vi] A rabs and Persians 1 65 

hardly consider eighteen-pence per month a very exorbitant 
house ren/, especially for the comfortable accommodations just 
describe/l. All extras of repair and arrangement, if necessary, 
were to fall on the proprietor, who had also to find us in water, 
though subsequently out of our own free generosity we rewarded 
the sun-burnt nymph who brought it daily from the well for her 
laborious services. 

In this domicile then we arranged ourselves and chattels, and 
after partaking in common a morning meal of friendship with 
the owner of the house and Mubarek, the latter took his leave 
and returned home to Doweyrah. / 

He parted from us with a promise of supplying us with beasts, 
and taking us on to Ri'ad. But he had no real intention of 
doing so, it was merely a disqreet evasion to avoid the discour- 
tesy of a positive "I will not|" or of its equivalent " I cannot." 
Such u iwillingness to appear unwilling is among Arabs a fre- 
quent source of innocent deceptions, if deceptions indeed they 
can be termed, like the "not at home," or " slightly indisposed" 
of our iwn land ; whoever has to do with Easterns should be 
prepared for them, and take them good-naturedly. We were 
now no novices in the country, and had already conjectured 
that Mubarek was no more likely to keep his word than we to 
take it. Accordingly we tried other individuals, and hardly 
had we been installed in our rooms than we began to seek right 
and left the means of leaving them. But no one offered him- 
self or his camels, while we, for our part, could not distinctly 
see whence this reluctance arose. At last we resolved to apply 
to Mohanna himself, with whose character we were as yet but 
imperfectly acquainted, for our cautious neighbours and com- 
panions had not entrusted to our untried ears all the details 
with which my readers are already conversant ; we only learned 
them in process of time and through various channels. 

With this intention we enquired what was the best time for 
visiting the governor, and were informed that, unlike Coriolanus, 
his reception hours were before breakfast, namely, about sunrise 
or not much later. So, on the third morning after our arrival, 
we betook ourselves to his palace, with the intention of engaging 
him to the friendly office of finding us guides and companions 
for our journey to the 'Aared. Mohanna lived in the old castle, 
situated in the north-east quarter of the town, and a little 



1 66 Bereydah [Chap, vi 

within the walls ; it covers a large extent of space, to which its 
height does not sufficiently correspond, and it looks in fact more 
like a huge collection of outhouses than a palace, with little 
symmetry or order to show. Some portions of it are ancient, 
that is, of four or five hundred years' date, at a rough estimate \ 
for Arab architecture, unlike our own Norman or Gothic, does 
not chronicle the progress of centuries in line and curve. Massive, 
ungainly, and imposing from size alone, the main elements of 
beauty and development, the arch, the capital, the moulding, the 
frieze, the gable, are either totally absent, or exist only in their 
most primitive and embryotic form, from which no successive 
stages have shaped them into grace and perfection. The mate- 
rials of the construction are almost the only witnesses to its 
relative antiquity. Stone at an early period, shaped or rough ; 
stone mixed with earth, as here, later; earth alone in the 
Wahhabee cycle; these are the main tokens to indicate the 
century that reared the pile. To the first of these three 
periods belong the castle of Djowf and the Marid tower; to the 
second, many buildings of Kaseem, at Bereydah and 'Eyoon, for 
example ; to the third, Perey'eeyah and Ri'ad. From the highest 
antiquity down to the Hejirah the first may be assigned ; from 
the Hejirah to within two hundred years back the second. But 
east and south of Nejed, new architectural elements, new styles, 
new progress will appear, and claim special explanation in their 
place. In the castle of Mohanna, now before us, part belongs 
to more recent and variable date, but the whole has been put 
together by chance rather than by design ; some walls of stone, 
others of earth, part is plastered, part naked. The central 
edifice is strong, and capable of standing an Arab siege, but not 
above thirty-five feet in height, nor possessed of a tower ; the 
great watch-chimney, to give it its most descriptive name, is 
detached from the castle, and stands at some distance close by 
the town wall. A high outer gate leads within the first en- 
closure, a square court full of warehouses and lodgings for 
camel-drivers and palace servants ; a small and strongly-built 
doorway gives entrance to that section where the governor 
dwells in person. 

At the moment of our arrival Mohanna was out : he had gone 
at daybreak to a meeting in the Persian camp, where his pre- 
sent business was to extort a sum equal to nearly six hundred 



Chap, vi] Arabs and Persians 167 

pounds of English money from Taj-Djehan, over and above a 
thousand pounds already wrung out of her and her pilgrim 
companions. This negotiation absorbed all his thoughts and 
almost all his time ; for the war, he left it mainly to Feysul's 
younger son, Mohammed, whose camp we have yet to visit. 
However, after some waiting at the door with several other 
expectant visitors, we saw the worthy Nejdean arrive, in deep 
conversation with his satellites. Slightly acknowledging the 
salutations of the bystanders he entered the K'hawah, and we 
followed with the crowd. 

After a brief question and answer, no further notice was ours 
from Mohanna. He had other things to^fhink of, and the sim- 
plicity of our dress did not bespeak us persons of wealth and 
consideration enough to serve for friends or booty. Coffee was 
served all round as Usual, and immediately after the governor 
rose to go and look after the " main chance," leaving us seated 
with the other guests to discuss the nature of his occupations, 
and the news of the day. At the moment we were rather 
inclined to feel annoyed at receiving so little notice from one 
to whom we looked for help, but it was in fact a providential 
event in our favour. For had Mohanna brought his cunning 
and rapacity to bear on us, which he certainly would have done 
under ordinary circumstances, there would have been little 
likelihood of our reaching Ri'ad. Meanwhile we had nothing 
for it but to return home, whither some respectable townsmen 
now accompanied us, and from the tone of their conversation 
we soon learned to think that Mohanna had done us his best 
favour by neglect 

However, the main difficulty remained unsolved, and all our 
enquiries about companions for the Nejdean road proved utterly 
fruitless. For three days more we questioned and cross-ques- 
tioned, sought high and low, loitered in the streets and by the 
gates, addressed ourselves to townsmen and Bedouins, but in 
vain. At last we began to understand the true condition of 
affairs, and what were the obstacles that choked our way. 

The central provinces of Nejed, the genuine Wahhabee 
country, is to the rest of Arabia a sort of lion's den, on which 
few venture and yet fewer return. " Had&\Nejed ; men da- 
khelaha f ma kharaj," " this is Nejed, he wrib enters it does 
not come out again," said an elderly inhabitant of whom we had 



1 68 Bereydah [Chap, vi 

demanded information; and such is really very often the case. 
Its mountains, once the fastnesses of robbers and assassins, are 
at the present day equally or even more formidable as the strong- 
hold of fanatics who consider every one save themselves an in- 
fidel or a heretic, and who regard the slaughter of an infidel or a 
heretic as a duty, at least a merit. In addition to this general 
cause of anticipating a worse than cold reception in Nejed, wars 
and bloodshed, aggression and tyranny, have heightened the 
original antipathy of the surrounding population into special 
and definite resentment for wrongs received, perhaps inflicted, 
till Nejed has become for all but her born sons doubly danger- 
ous, and doubly hateful. Hence, not to speak of mere foreigners, 
Arabs themselves, of whatever race or persuasion, Mahometans 
or otherwise, inhabitants of Shomer or townsmen of Mecca, 
from Djowf to Yemen, are very little disposed to venture on the 
plateaus of Toweyk or to thread Wadi Haneefah, without some 
strong reason, and under particularly favourable or really urgent 
circumstances. 

But at this time some other superadded difficulties complicated 
the question, and rendered our researches more and more sterile. 
The war now raging, the siege and its accompanying ravages, 
though nominally directed against 'Oneyzah alone, were in reality 
against the province at large, which had throughout either openly 
or at least in feeling espoused the cause of the injured town. 
Bereydah itself, in spite of the presence of Mohanna and his 
numerous satellites, in spite of the Wahhabee force encamped 
under its very walls, could hardly be kept from revolt. Every 
heart and every tongue was enlisted against Feysul and in favour 
of Zamil, rejoicing in his successes, sympathizing in his reverses. 
All this was of course no secret to the Nejdean governor and 
his associates, nor could they be ignorant of the deputations 
in search of assistance sent now to Mecca and now to Djebel 
Shomer, and that not only by Zamil and the garrison of 'Oney- 
zah, but even by the inhabitants of Rass, of Henakeeyah, and 
of Bereydah itself. Hence the natives of Kaseem, who were 
never in odour of sanctity among the Nejdean Wahhabees, now 
positively, to borrow a scriptural phrase, " did stink among the 
inhabitants of the land," as the worst of infidels and abettors 
of infidels, and they for their part were less desirous than ever 
of crossing the eastern frontier of their province. 



Chap, vi] Arabs and Persians 169 

There was more yet. By the best construction that could 
be put on us ourselves and our doings, we were certainly 
strangers, come from a land stigmatized by the Wahhabees as 
a hotbed of idolatry and polytheism, subjects too of a hostile 
and infidel government. To be held for spies of the Ottoman 
was but a degree better here than to be considered spies of 
Christian or European governments ; and though we might fairly 
hope to steer clear of the latter imputation, we might readily 
fall foul of the former. In a word, to introduce such unsavoury 
individuals into the lands of the Saints was hardly less danger- 
ous to our guidesmen than to ourselves; Jikc the peacock who 
in Mahometan tradition opened the wicket of Paradise to let 
the Devil in, and received no inconsiderable share in the Devil's 
own punishment. 

To sum up, we were now in a thorough " fix," and saw no 
means of getting free. Barred in on every side by causes 
whose nature and strength we had been taught to appre- 
ciate, we knew not whither to turn. Five days of bootless 
search in town and camp had convinced us that in looking for 
a guide eastwards we were, to use an Arab proverb, " hunting 
for the egg of the 'Anka." or Eastern Phoenix. But we were no 
less determined not to be beaten, and it was a great relief to 
notice that after all our running about no one seemed to enter- 
tain the least suspicion or ill-will regarding us, nor even paid 
us that exclusive and minute attention which we had hitherto 
attracted, much more than was comfortable, wherever we had 
taken up our abode, for the war preoccupied every mind. 

At last a door opened, and, which is not seldom the case, 
exactly where we least expected it, and in so doing furnished 
us with the means of visiting not Nejed only, but even the more 
distant regions farther east. This was, in fact, the turning- 
point of our whole journey, and a seemingly casual meeting 
facilitated while it modified and extended the remainder of our 
course from Bereydah to Nejed, from Nejed to 'Oman, from 
'Oman back to Bagdad. 

It was the sixth day after our arrival, and the 22nd of Sep- 
tember, when about noon I was sitting alone and rather melan- 
choly in our K'hawah, and trying to beguile the time with 
reading the incomparable Divan of Ebn-el-Farid, the favourite 
companion of rny travels. Barakat had at my request betaken 



I/O Bereydah [Chap. V i 

himself out of doors, less in hopes of success than to "go to 
and fro in the earth and walk up and down in it ;" nor did I 
now dare to expect that he would return any wiser than he had 
set forth. When lo ! after a long two hours' absence, he came 
in with cheerful face, index of good tidings. 

Good, indeed, they were, none better. Their bearer said, that 
after roaming awhile to no purport through the streets and 
market-place, he had bethought him of a visit to the Persian 
camp. There, while straying among the tents, "like a washer- 
man's dog," a Hindoo would say, he noticed somewhat aloof 
from the crowd a small group of pilgrims seated near their bag- 
gage on the sand, while curls of smoke going up from amid 
the circle indicated the presence of a fire, which at that time of 
day could be for nothing else than coffee. Civilized though 
Barakat undoubtedly was, he was yet by blood and heart an 
Arab, and for an Arab to see coffee-making, and not to put 
himself in the way of getting a share, would be an act of self- 
restraint totally unheard of; so he approached the group, and 
was of course invited to sit down and drink. The party con- 
sisted of two wealthy Persians, accompanied by three or four of 
that class of men, half servants, half companions, who often hook 
on to travellers at Bagdad or its neighbourhood, besides a mu- 
latto of Arabo-negrine origin, and his master, this last being the 
leader of the band, and the giver of the aromatic entertainment. 

Barakat's whole attention was at once engrossed by this per- 
sonage. A remarkably handsome face, of a type evidently not 
belonging to the Arab Peninsula, long hair curling down to the 
shoulders, an over-dress of fine-spun silk, somewhat soiled by 
travel, a coloured handkerchief of Syrian manufacture on the 
head, a manner and look indicating an education much superior 
to that ordinary in his class and occupation, a camel-driver's, 
were peculiarities sufficient of themselves to attract notice, and 
give rise to conjecture. But when these went along with a 
welcome and a salute in the forms and tone of Damascus or 
Aleppo, and a ready flow of that superabundant and over- 
charged politeness for which the Syrian subjects of the Turkish 
empire are renowned, Barakat could no longer doubt that he 
had a fellow-countryman, and one, too, of some note, before 
him. 

Such was in fact the case. Aboo-'Eysa, to give him the name 



^hap. vi] A rabs and Persians 1 7 1 

by which he was commonly known in these parts, though in his 
own country he bears another denomination, was a native of 
Aleppo, and son of a not unimportant individual in that fair 
city. His education, and the circumstances of his early youth, 
had rendered him equally conversant with townsmen and herds- 
men, with citizens and Bedouins, with Arabs and Europeans. 
By lineal descent he was a Bedouin, since his grandfather be- 
longed to the Mejadimah, who are themselves an offshoot of 
the Benoo-Khalid ; but in habits, thoughts, and manners he 
was a very son of Aleppo, where he had passed the greater 
part of his boyhood and youth. When about twenty-five years 
of age, he became involved, culpably or not, in the great con- 
spiracy against the Turkish government which broke out in the 
Aleppine insurrection of 1852. Like many others he was com- 
pelled to anticipate consequences by a prompt flight and a long 
sojourn far from the white walls of his native city. After a year 
or more of rambling and adventure, Aboo-'Eysa ventured to re- 
appear among his fellow-townsmen, but his goods and those of 
his family had been plundered or confiscated, and he was now 
a ruined man. His father, too, had died shortly after the in- 
surrection. 

Commerce offered him a means of repairing his losses, and 
the liberality of a wealthy Israelite friend came in to his aid. 
He commenced his mercantile career as a travelling commis- 
sioner between Aleppo and Bagdad, besides some business on 
his own score, and sometimes he extended his journeys and his 
affairs to Basrah. Master at last of a considerable sum, he 
resolved to try his fortune in the Indian horse-trade of the 
Persian Gulf. This idea was not merely the result of the hope 
of gain; it had its origin partly in a desire, not unnatural in a 
Mejadimah, to visit the cradle of his race in Hasa, and partly 
in a special passion for the horse, a " penchant " which often 
remains through life when early years have been familiar with 
the saddle. In pursuance of his scheme, Aboo-'Eysa now 
shipped himself and his stock in hand at Basrah, and sailed to 
Koweyt, whence on by land through the province of Hasa. 
Here he collected a suitable number of horses for the Indian 
mart, and with them embarked at Bahreyn, on a ship Bombay- 
wards bound. 

But his hopes of wealth and increase were blighted in the 



172 Bereydah [Ch ap . vi 

bud by casualties rarely absent from this kind of speculation. I 
once heard that a prudent Norfolk man, invited to take part in a 
similar line of business, replied with better sense than grammar, 
"Horses eats, and horses dies, and I will have nothing to do 
with things as eats and things as dies." Die Aboo-'Eysa's 
horses certainly did of some epidemic disease that assailed the 
animal cargo of the ship, and before he set foot on Apollo 
(properly, Pulwar) Bunder, more than half his stud had gone to 
feed the sharks of the Indian Sea. The survivors were landed 
in sorry case and stabled in the Fort. But they had come at a 
wrong season, "gram" was dear, and prices low, and the sale 
concluded in a dead loss. Aboo-'Eysa returned to Bahreyn 
without horses and almost without money, and feeling ashamed 
or afraid to revisit Bagdad and Aleppo in such a plight, thought 
it more advisable to remain in Has a, on the principle of con- 
tinental residence practised occasionally by gentlemen whose 
bills are longer than their purses. 

In Hasa he met with a cordial welcome and helpful friends. 
Nor was this strange, considering his personal good qualities, 
delicate tact, pleasant conversation, a good head except where 
money was concerned, and a warm heart — I have seldom known 
a warmer. Before many months passed at Hof hoof he had by 
him wherewithal to make a considerable purchase in the fine 
and highly-valued cloth mantles or 'Abee, which constitute the 
staple manufacture of that town, and with this capital he tried 
his commercial luck once more. But here again disappointment 
awaited him. A cousin of his had tracked him to Hasa, and to 
this relative Aboo-'Eysa entrusted his wares for sale at Basrah. 
But when the faithless agent found himself in possession of a 
large sum, the price of Aboo-'Eysa's goods, he conceived the 
design of setting up on his own account, and sailed away with 
the money, to spend his ill-gotten wealth in Kurrachee and 
Bombay, whence he never returned. 

Our unfortunate hero was a third time reduced to utter 
want, and remained some time in great difficulties. At last he 
managed to collect a small sum, and invested it in a sword 
and a few Persian carpets, with which he set off for Ri'ad. 
Arrived there, he bestowed his purchases in form of prebents on 
Mahboob, the prime minister of Feysul, and on Feysul himself. 
After this preliminary step, he begged of the king a patent, 



Chad, vi j A rcibs and Persians 173 

enabling him to occupy a subordinate post of guide in the 
annual transport of Persian pilgrims across the Nejed. His re- 
quest was granted, and he now entered on a new and a more 
congenial kind of life. 

When we met him, he had followed this career for three 
years. His politeness, easy manners, and strict probity soon 
gained him a favourable reception among the pilgrims, ac- 
customed to the greedy rapacity and uncourteous bearing of 
Wahhabee guides. Thus qualified for his office, he had be- 
fore long a large band of pilgrims at his back, and attained a 
degree of wealth above whatever he possessed on his first ar- 
rival at Hof hoof. Meanwhile his frequentjourneys backwards 
and forwards through the very heart of Arabia enabled him to 
increase his already numerous acquaintance by that of the 
central chiefs, townsmen, or Bedouins, to whom his lavish ge- 
nerosity rendered him peculiarly acceptable. His coffee was 
always on the fire, his tobacco-pouch invariably open, his supper 
at the mercy of every neighbour. He seemed, in fact — and of 
this I can speak after personal experience — in a hurry to throw 
away on his friends whatever he had acquired, nor was that 
little. 

His ordinary residence, when not engaged on a journey or 
conducting pilgrims, was at Hof hoof, the capital of Hasa ; an 
abode which placed him at a convenient distance from his 
Wahhabee employers, whose strait-laced exclusiveness he dis- 
liked and ridiculed, while they on their part were liable to take 
scandal at his tobacco-smoking, silk-wearing latitudinarianism, 
if brought too often under their immediate notice. Having 
completed his business with the caravan, henceforth their 
paths had to separate, for while the Persians were bound for 
the neighbourhood of Meshid 'Alee by the north-eastern road, 
Aboo-'Eysa's goal lay at Hofhoof, where his wife, an Abyssi- 
nian woman, and his son, awaited him at home. Hence he 
had to follow the south-eastern path right across Nejed, and 
exactly where we ourselves desired to penetrate it ; a circum- 
stance which facilitated his becoming our guide, in case we 
proposed it. 

Other circumstances also coincided in predisposing him to 
take us in his company. Hardly had he set his eyes on 
Barakat than the recognition, so far as country went, was 



1 74 Bereydah [Chap, vi 

mutual, and Aboo-'Eysa, long accustomed to all classes and 
descriptions of Syrians between Gaza and ; Aleppo, readily per- 
ceived that his new acquaintance was something more and 
better than what he gave himself out for. Accordingly he 
received him with marked politeness, and carefully informed 
himself of our whence and whither. Barakat, overjoyed to find 
at last a kind of opening after difficulties that had appeared 
to obstruct all further progress, made no delay in enquiring 
whether he would undertake our guidance to Ri'ad. Aboo- 
'Eysa replied that he was just on the point of separating from 
his friends the Persians, whose departure would leave camels 
enough and to spare at his disposition, and that so far there 
was no hindrance to the proposal. As for the Wahhabees and 
their unwillingness to admit strangers within their limits, he 
stated himself to be well known to them, and that in his 
company we should have nothing to fear from their suspicious 
criticism. Barakat next requested to know the hire of his 
beasts, and Aboo-'Eysa in return named so low a price, barely 
half in fact that we had paid from IJa'yel to Kaseem, though 
the distance before us was greater by a third, that no doubt 
remained of his being no less desirous of our society than we 
of his. He added that in two or three days at most he would 
be ready to start. 

Better news could not be imagined, and Barakat hastened 
to impart it to me ; but before quitting his new acquaintance, 
of his own authority he invited Aboo-'Eysa to supper with 
us the same evening, hoping thus to render the engagement 
surer, and to give room for increase of knowledge on both 
sides. 

We now made our preparations for the repast, and bought, a 
rare occurrence with us, a good piece of meat, which Barakat 
cooked in Syrian rather than in Arab fashion. Dates and 
butter in a lordly dish were not wanting, and since the women 
of Bereydah have learnt from the Persians the art of making 
leavened bread, that luxury, too, adorned our board. Altoge- 
ther one might call it a very excellent meal for Kaseem. Of 
course the two Persians, Aboo-'Eysa's companions, had also 
been asked, for to invite one of a band and leave out the rest 
would be here considered the height of shabbiness ; our host 
Ahmed obligingly furnished cooking utensils and dishes, and 



Chap, vi] Arabs and Persians 175 

was in recompense bidden to the party. Lastly, two respect- 
able townsmen who had often honoured us with their visits were 
summoned to complete the convivial circle. Our K'hawah was 
large enough for all, and we were in a generous humour. 

Towards evening Aboo-'Eysa arrived. He entered with the 
easy and quiet air of a gentleman, and at once joined in con- 
versation without the smallest embarrassment. I was much at 
a loss to read his riddle ; his manner was not that either of a 
townsman or of a Bedouin, of a Mahometan or of a Christian ; 
it partook of all, yet belonged to none ; a manly face, but 
marked with that half-feminine delicacy of expression which, 
for example's sake, may be noticed in the^portraits of Nelson, 
Rodney, and some other distinguished men of the eighteenth 
century; intelligent speech, yet betraying considerable igno- 
rance on many points of school education ; a negligent display 
of dress and bearing ; a dialect which at one moment reminded 
me of Syria, at another of Nejed, and sometimes of the desert; 
all contributed to puzzle me regarding the real origin and 
character of our intended guide. My readers, previously in- 
formed of what we only learnt afterwards and by degrees, can 
more easily understand in the chequered history of Aboo- 
'Eysa the causes and explanation of these complicated features. 
Much, too, in the man was individual, and the result of natural 
disposition no less than circumstances, indeed in spite of them. 
Certainly a roving life is no good school for probity in dealings, 
nor for delicate morality in private conduct. Yet Aboo-'Eysa 
possessed bcJ^j these qualities in a degree that drew on him the 
admiration of many, the derision of some, and the notice of all. 
No one had ever*%eard from his lips any of those coarse jests 
and double entendres so common even among the better sort of 
Arabs in their freer hours, and his life was of a no less exemplary 
correctness than his language. Not a suspicion of libertinism 
had ever attached itself to him ; at home or on his journeys he 
was and always had been a faithful and (though wealthy) a 
monogamous husband. Equally known for unblemished honour 
in money transactions, he had never contested or delayed the 
payment of a debt, and his partners in business bore unani- 
mous witness to his scrupulous fidelity. This very truthfulness 
of disposition led him indeed not seldom to place a too implicit 
confidence in the agents to whom he entrusted his affairs or his 



» 



1/6 Bereydah [Chap, vi 

money, nor did experience of the past seem in general much to 
open his eyes in this respect for the future till it was too late, 
nor the treachery of an old friend lead him to distrust a new, 
though equally undeserving. An intimate acquaintance, pro- 
longed through many and eventful months, gave us ample 
opportunity for observing these peculiarities in Aboo-'Eysa's 
conduct and character. Meanwhile I trust that my readers 
will excuse this minute description of the outer and inner 
man of one whose share in our journey was henceforth so 
important. 

We sat down to a very joyous supper, and the conversation 
never flagged. Before dark, Aboo-'Eysa and the Persians took 
leave, to return to their camels and baggage, while the towns- 
men of Bereydah congratulated us on having secured so good 
a guide and companion ; all knew him, and bore unexcep- 
tionable witness to his integrity and ability, though all equally 
professed themselves in the dark respecting his real origin, 
or what had been his life and pursuits before his appearance in 
Arabia. 

Thus at rest on the main question of our journey, Barakat 
and I had leisure to examine the town, and to take notice of 
what lay within and without its walls. Perhaps my readers t 
will not think it loss of time to accompany us on a morn- 
ing visit to the camp and market, to the village gardens and 
wells ; such visits we often paid, not without interest and 
pleasure. 

Warm though Kaseem is, its mornings, at least at this time 
of year (the latter part of September), were delightful. In a 
pure and mistless sky the sun rises over the measureless plain, 
while the early breeze is yet cool, and invigorating, a privilege 
enjoyed almost invariably in Arabia, but wanting too often in 
Egypt on the west, and India on the east. At this hour we 
would often thread the streets by which we had first entered 
the town, and go out betimes to the Persian camp, where all 
was already alive and stirring. Here are ranged on the sand, 
baskets full of eggs and dates, flanked by piles of bread and 
little round cakes of white I flflter . bundles of fire-wood are 
heaped up close by, and pails of goat's or camel's jnilk . a bound, 
and amid all these sit rows of countrywomen, haggling with 
tail Persians or with the dusky servants of Taj-Djehan, who in 



Chap, vi] A rubs and Persians I Jj 

broken Arabic try to beat down the prices, and generally end 
by paying only double of what they ought. The swaggering 
broad-faced Bagdad camel- drivers, and the ill-looking sallow 
youths of Meshid-'Alee, every mother's son a Hoseyn or an 
'Alee, so narrow is Shiya'ee nomenclature, stand idle every- 
where, talking downright ribaldry, insulting those whom they 
dare, and cringing to their betters like slaves. Persian gentle- 
men, too, with grand hooked noses, high caps, and quaintly -cut 
dresses of gay patterns, saunter about discussing their grievances, 
or quarrelling with each other, to pass the time. For, unlike 
an Arab, a Persian shows at once whatever ^11-humour he may 
feel, and has no shame in giving it utterance before whomever 
may be present, nor does he with the Arab consider patience 
to be an essential point of politeness and dignity. Not a 
few Bereydah townsmen are here, chatting or bartering, and 
Bedouins switch in hand. If you ask any chance individual 
among these latter what has brought him hither, you may be 
sure beforehand that the word " camel," in one or other of its 
forms of detail, will find place in the answer. Criers are 
going up and down the camp with articles of Persian apparel, 
cooking-pots, and ornaments of various description in their 
hands, or carrying them off for higher bidding to the town. 
For what between the extortions of Mohanna, and the daily 
growing expenses of so long a sojourn at Bereydah, the Per- 
sians were rapidly coming to an end of their long purses and 
short wits, and had begun selling off whatever absolute neces- 
sity could dispense with as superfluous, to obtain wherewithal 
to buy a dish of milk or a bundle of firewood. Hence their 
appearance was a ludicrous mixture of the gay and ragged, of 
the insolence of wealth and the anxious cringe of want ; they 
were, in short, gentlemen in very reduced circumstances, and 
looked what they were. 

Barakat and myself have made our morning household pur- 
chases at the fair, and the sun being now an hour or more 
above the horizon, we think it time to visit the market-place of 
the town, which would hardly be open sooner. We re-enter the 
city gate, and pass on our way by our house door, where we 
leave our bundle of eatables, and regain the high street of 
Bereydah. Before long we reach a high arch across the road ; 
this gate divides the market from the rest of the quarter. We 

N 



178 Bereydah [Chap, vi 

enter : first of all we see a long range of butchers' shops on 
either side, thick hung with flesh of sheep and camel, and very 
dirtily kept. We/e not the air pure and the climate healthy, 
the plague would assuredly be endemic here; but in Arabia 
no special harm seems to follow. We hasten on, and next pass 
a series of cloth and linen warehouses, stocked partly with home 
manufacture, but more imported ; Bagdad cloaks and head-gear 
for instance, Syrian shawls and Egyptian slippers. Here mar- 
kets follow the law general throughout the East, that all shops 
or stores of the same description should be clustered together* 
a system whose advantages on the whole outweigh its incon- 
veniences, at least for small towns like these. In the large 
cities and capitals of Europe, greater extent of locality requires 
evidently a different method of arrangement ; it might be 
awkward for the inhabitants of Hyde Park were no hatters to 
be found nearer than the Tower. But what is Bereydah 
compared even with a second-rate European city 1 However, 
in a crowd, it yields to none : the streets at this time of the 
day are thronged to choking, and to make matters worse a 
huge splay-footed camel comes every now and then heaving^ 
from side to side like a lubber-rowed boat, with a long beam on 
his back menacing the heads of those in the way, or with two 
enormous loads of fire-wood each as large as himself, sweeping 
the road before him of men, women, and children, while the 
driver, high-perched on the hump, regards such trifles with the 
most supreme indifference, so long as he brushes his path open. 
Sometimes there is a whole string of these beasts, the head rope 
of each tied to the crupper of his precursor, very uncomfortable 
passengers when met with at a narrow turning. 

Through such obstacles we have found or made our way, and 
are now amid leather and shoemakers' shops, then among 
copper and iron smiths, whose united clang might waken the 
dead or kill the living, till at last we emerge on the central 
town-square, not a bad one either, nor very irregular, consider- 
ing that it is in Kaseem. About half one side is taken up by 
the great mosque, an edifice near two centuries old, judging by 
its style and appearance, but it bears on no part of it either 
date or inscription. This is, according to my experience, a 
universal rule among the constructions of Central and Eastern 
Arabia ; neither Cufic, nor Himyarite, nor Arabic writings ap- 



chap, vi] A rabs and Persians 1 79 

pear on lintel or column, a want which much disappointed me, 
nor could I well understand whence this dearth of memorials, 
especially when contrasted with the abundance of inscriptions 
in Hauran and Safa, Palmyra and Babylon. Coloured writings 
daubed on walls and over gates are indeed common, but such 
inscriptions can, it is evident, be only of a few years' standing. 
Nor does the dearth of stone-graving come from want of skill, 
since architectural carving is frequent, though rude, in Nejed, 
while throughout 'Oman this and other ornamental arts are 
cultivated with no despicable success. 

The mirfaret of this mosque is very lofty — a proof, among 
many others) that its date reaches farther^back than the first 
Wahhabee domination, for the Nejdean sect does not approve 
of high minarets, from the all-sufficient reason that they did 
not exist in the time of Mahomet (true conservatives !), and 
they accordingly content themselves with a little corner turret, 
barely exceeding in height the rest of the roof. A crack run- 
ning up one side of the tower bears witness to an earthquake 
said to have occurred here about thirty years since, probably 
the same of which we subsequently found traces in Has a. The 
arch, and consequently the vault, are here unknown ; hence the 
pillars that upbear the mosque roof are close to each other and 
very numerous. They are of stone. 

Another side of the square is formed by an open gallery, 
reminding me of those at Bologna. In its shade groups of 
citizens are seated discussing news or business. The central 
space is occupied by camels and by bales of various goods, 
among which the coffee of Yemen, henna, and saffron, bear a 
large part. However, at the period of our arrival, commerce 
was unusually languid, owing to the war, whose occupations 
absorbed a considerable portion of the population itself, while 
they also rendered the roads unsafe for traders and travellers. 

From this square several diverging streets run out, each 
containing a market-place for this or that ware, and all ending 
in portals dividing them from the ordinary habitations. The 
vegetable and fruit market is very extensive, and kept almost 
exclusively by women ; so are also the shops for grocery and 
spices. Nor do the fair sex of Bereydah seem a whit inferior 
to their rougher partners in knowledge of business and thrifty 
diligence. " Close-handedness beseems a woman no less than 

N 2 



180 Bereydah [Chap, vi 

generosity a man," says an Arab poet, unconsciously coinciding 
with Lance of Verona in his comments on the catalogue of his 
future spouse's "conditions." 

Rocksalt of remarkable purity and whiteness from western 
Kaseem is a common article of sale, and enormous flakes of it, 
often beautifully crystallized, lay piled up at the shop doors. 
Sometimes a Persian stood by, trying his skill at purchase 
or exchange, but these pilgrims were in general shy of entering 
the town, where, truly, they were not in the best repute. Be- 
douins are far less frequent here than in the streets of IJa'yel ; 
indeed, henceforth they are only to be met with occasionally, 
and, as it were, by exception. But in compensation, well- 
dressed, grave-looking townsmen abound ; their yellow wands 
of Sidr or lotus-wood in their hands, and their kerchiefs loosely 
thrown over their heads, without the band of white or black 
camel's hair so characteristic in the north. This Akkal or head- 
band becomes rarer as we approach the centre of the Peninsula, 
and in the east disappears altogether. 

The whole town has an aspect of old but declining prosperity. 
There are few new houses, but many falling into ruin. The 
faces, too, of most we meet are serious, and their voices in an 
undertone. Silk dresses are prohibited by the dominant faction, 
and tobacco can only be smoked within doors, and by stealth. 
Every now and then zealous Wahhabee missionaries from Ri'ad 
pay a visit of reform and preaching to unwilling auditors, and 
disobedience to the customs of the Nejdean sect is noticed 
and punished, often severely. 

If, invited by its owner, we enter one of the houses, we find 
the interior arrangement somewhat differing from that usual in 
Djebel Shomer. The towns of Kaseem are close built, and 
space within the walls becomes in proportion more valuable ; 
hence the courtyards are smaller and the rooms narrow; a 
second storey, too, is common here, whereas at Ha'yel it is a 
rare exception. The abundance of wood in this province ren- 
ders charcoal superfluous, and the small furnaces of Djowf and 
^Shomer have disappeared, to make room for fireplaces sunk in 
the floor, with a raised stone rim and dog-irons, exactly like 
those in use at home before coals and coal-smoke had necessi- 
tated chimney-pieces and all the modern nicety of hearths and 
stoves. Ghada and Markh wood is piled on the irons, and the 

■ 

\ 
\ 



Chap, vi] A rabs and Persians 1 8 1 

coffee, here super-excellent, for the very best of Yemen comes 
to Kaseem, is prepared on the blaze. 

Enough of the town; the streets are narrow, hot, and dusty; 
the day, too, advances ; but the gardens are yet cool. So we 
dash at a venture through a labyrinth of byways and crossways 
till we find ourselves in the wide street that, like a boulevard in 
France, runs immediately along but inside the wails. 

Here is a side gate, but half ruined, with great folding doors 
and no one to open them. The wall of one of the flanking 
towers has, however, been broken in, and from hence we hope 
to find an outlet on the gardens outside. / We clamber in, 
and, after mounting a heap of rubbish^nce the foot of a 
winding staircase, have before us a window looking right on 
the gardens ; fortunately we are not the first to try this short 
cut, and the truant boys of the town have sufficiently enlarged 
the aperture and piled up stones on the ground outside to 
render the passage tolerably easy; we follow the indication, and 
in another minute stand in the open air without the walls. The 
breeze is fresh, and will continue so till noon. Before us are 
high palm-trees and dark shadows ; the ground is velvet green 
with the autumn crop of maize and vetches, and intersected, by 
a labyrinth of watercourses, some dry, others flowing ; for the 
wells are at work. 

These wells are much tke same throughout Arabia, their only 
diversity is in size and dep^h, but their hydraulic machinery is 
everywhere alike. Over the; well's mouth is fixed a cross-beam, 
supported high in air on pillars of wood or stone on either side, 
and in this beam are from three to six small wheels, over which 
pass the ropes of as many large leathern buckets, each con- 
taining nearly twice the ordinary English measure. These 
are let down into the depth, and then drawn up again by 
camels or asses, who pace slowly backwards and forwards on an 
inclined plane leading from the* edge of the well itself to a pit 
prolonged for some distanqe. When the buckets rise to the 
verge they tilt over, and pour out their contents by a broad 
channel into a reservoir hard by, from which part the water- 
courses that irrigate the garden. The supply thus obtained is 
necessarily discontinuous, and much inferior to what a little 
more skill in mechanism affords in Egypt and Syria; while the 
awkward shaping and not unfrequently the ragged condition of 



1 8 2 Bereydah [Ch ap. vi 

the buckets themselves, causes half the liquid to fall back into 
the well before it reaches the brim. The creaking, singing noise 
of the wheefew the rush of water as the buckets attain their 
turning-point, t\e unceasing splash of their overflow dripping 
back into the source, all are a message of life and moisture 
very welcome in $n\dryand stilly region, and maybe heard far 
off amid the sand-hills, a first intimation to the sun-scorched 
traveller of hisjapproach to a cooler resting-place. 

We stroll jroout in the shade, hide ourselves amid the high 
maize to smoke a quiet pipe unobserved by prying Nejdean eyes, 
and then walk on till at some distance we come under a high 
ridge of sand. Curiosity leads us to climb it, though steep and 
sliding. From its summit we look south-west in the direction 
of 'Oneyzah, the whole country between is jotted over with 
islets of cultivation amid th| sands, and far off long lines of 
denser shade indicate whereabouts 'Oneyzah itself is situated. 
But noon draws on, and fie heat increases; it were ill to 
remain longer in the blaze of mid-day. So we retrace our steps 
to the walls, and follow at a Venture the town ditch till a gate 
appears, by which we enter and find our way home again. 

Our travelling arrangements with Aboo-'Eysa, which were 
soon known to all, brought us also frequent visits from the 
Persian camp. It was highly entertaining to hear these foreigners 
satirize the land of the Arabs, and extol their own, whereof they 
invariably tried to give a most prismatic idea. Some of these 
gentlemen, for gentlemen they were in the scale of Eastern 
society, knew Arabic fairly well, thanks to frequent residence 
in Bagdad and its neighbourhood, and took pleasure in literary 
and historical research. 

The military operations, if T may honour them by that 
name, against 'Oneyzah, afforded an ex-Indian officer another 
subject of observation and study. In order to become better 
acquainted with these proceedings, in which the town at large 
hardly took part, I paid frequent visits to the Nejdean war 
camp, then pitched to the south of the walls. Here stood an 
irregular collection of little black tents, often mere rags and 
tags, stretched out for shade on two or three poles, gipsy 
fashion; but the space within and around bristled with spears 
and swarmed with swarthy Nejdeans; their firelocks stood 
arranged in pyramids, much like our own manner of piling arms, 



Chap, vij A rabs and Persians 183 

before and between the lines. Each clan, each province, was 
encamped apart, and our own observation soon instructed us 
to distinguish between the quarters of the men of Aflaj, those 
of Sedeyr, and those of Woshem ; amid the latter muskets pre- 
dominated, amid the first swords and daggers, while the warriors 
of Sedeyr were more often armed with spears than either class 
of their comrades. V/hen we passed by the lines, the saluta- 
tions of the soldiers were short and sulky, and unaccompanied 
by any friendly invitation ; we were not Nej deans, ergo, we were 
infidels. Besides, the ill-humour of these poor fellows was aug- 
mented, and partly excused, by a very biting cause, — hunger; 
for they had brought with them but a pooV stock of provisions, 
and still less money for purchase, while on the other hand they 
were not living here at free quarters, and the denizens of Be- 
reydah were by no means inclined to do the handsome towards 
them. The Nej deans had reckoned on fattening straightway 
upon the dates and plunder of 'Oneyzah, but they had reckoned 
without their host, and hitherto caught nothing but a Tartar ; 
for the troops of Zamil kept the superiority in the open field, 
and the relative position of besiegers and besieged was at this 
moment almost reversed. 

One day in the afternoon we heard the alarm-cry raised from 
the lofty watch-tower of the city, and echoed far away in the 
plain from other outposts ; it was a band of horsemen from 
'Oneyzah, who had ventured up to the very neighbourhood of 
the town and were pillaging the suburbs. Mohanna came out 
from his counting-house to bid the rest go where glory called ; 
when lo ! in a moment streets and market-place were deserted, 
and every townsman scampered off, not to the field of fame, but 
to hide himself in his house and lock the outer door, all pre- 
ferring an " alibi" to the disagreeable dilemma of open dis- 
obedience if they refused to arm, or of complying with the 
appeal, and so/having to fight precisely those on whose success 
their own dearest hopes were staked. However, Mohanna sent 
his satellites round in time to get together about forty of these 
reluctant warriors, who, once caught, put the best face on the 
matter, took their spears and matchlocks, and set out with a 
heroic determination not to fight the enemy. They were joined 
by a much larger band of the Nej dean soldiers, who, headed 
by their several chiefs, poured out from their tents with very 



1 84 Bereydah [Chap, vi 

different intentions ; many of them bore, besides the weapons 
already mentioned, the short dagger of Yemamah at their belts, 
and swords, if not always sharp, heavy, and in resolute hands. 
Barakat and I climbed a hillock without the fortifications, 
whence we had a good view of the plain and skirmish. 

The partisans of 'Oneyzah, about half the number of their 
enemy, were all on horseback, and had scattered themselves 
here and there among the houses and gardens in the suburbs, 
doing no harm soever to the persons of the villagers, but busy 
in collecting what light booty they could lay hold of. On the 
approach of their assailants they gathered in front of the 
plantations, and sent out some twenty of theirs to the pre- 
liminaries of the fray. The Nej deans on their side halted and 
drew up their line. The tactics of an Arab battle are simple, 
but not wholly devoid of skill. The cavalry come to the front, 
and provoke the engagement ; while the camels and their riders, 
who form the main body, remain behind in reserve. When the 
action has once become serious, which is the case so soon as 
blood has been shed on either side, the camels are made to kneel 
down, each becoming a kind of fieldwork for two musketeers 
under his cover, the cavalry open out, and firing begins in good 
earnest, till flank attacks, or an excess of confidence on one 
or other side, bring on a general assault ; some fight on foot, 
some mounted, and the melee continues till either party gives 
way.N(The Nej deans distinguish themselves from the rest of 
/ their Arab countrymen by preferring slaughter to booty ; they 
/ neither take nor ask for quarter, and so long as there are men 
to kill, pay no attention to plunder. Hence, where Nej deans 
lead the battte, hot work may be expected, and though six 
or seven hundred killed on the field may seem a trifle to 
Europeans accustomed to the thousands of Balaclava, or the 
^l tens of thousands of Solferino, such a number for Arabs 
**% much, and, indeed, is supplied by Nejdean warfare alone. V* 
Elsewhere two killed and three wounded is generally the out- 
side, much like the battles of Italian municipalities in the 
middle ages, nor totally dissimilar from some of the king and 
commonwealth frays during the first years of our own great 
civil broil in the seventeenth century. 

The horsemen of Bereydah answer the challenge of the enemy 
by galloping forward some one way, some another, but never 



Chap, vi] A rabs and Persians 185 

straight to their opponents ; while the Nej deans, having for the 
most only camels under them, are obliged to await the results. 
Three or four of them are, however, on horseback, and these 
naturally take the lead. A very pretty display of equestrian 
skill follows, with a dropping fire of matchlocks; but the men 
of Kaseem, whether from 'Oneyzah or Bereydah, understand 
each other, and have made up their mind beforehand that 
neither bullet nor spear-point of theirs shall hurt their country- 
men. So they wheel round and round like swallows over a 
lake, till the Nejdeans lose patience, and advance their whole 
line. Then the warriors of 'Oneyzah, seeing the business take 
a serious turn, and that they are likely to be immediately out- 
numbered, disappear one by one among the palm-groves in 
their rear, keeping a good show to the last, but putting the 
trees between themselves and their foe long before the old- 
fashioned guns can send a ball within reach of them. Hereon 
the fray ends, for want of an enemy, and the heroes of Bereydah 
amuse themselves with a sham fight and much careering and 
hallooing on their way back to the town, which they enter after 
about four hour/ absence, with " happily no lives lost," as the 
next morning f»aper would have it, did morning papers here 
exist. On their return the hidden townsmen suddenly re- 
appear, and the streets are filled as usual. 

Our evenings passed usually in very pleasant guise ; after 
supper, invariably here and elsewhere throughout Arabia at 
sunset, we would betake ourselves to the flat house-roof, along 
I with Aboo-'Eysa and other acquaintances from camp or town, 
and there smoke and talk for hours, or listen to the call to night- 
prayers from the Persian tents, sounding melodious and full 
among the harsh voices of the Arabs. I know not whether any 
of my readers labour under the agreeable delusion that Arabia 
is a land of song; perhaps no country in the world has less 
harmony to boast, unless, indeed, it be China ; but I have never 
had the good fortune of hearing a Chinese performer, only they 
do not look musical. However, I have heard Turks, Persians, 
Indians of all sorts, and negroes sing, not to mention Syrians, 
Armenians, Greeks, and the like ; and can bear witness to them 
that one and all they far surpass the sons of Kahtan or Ismael 
in this accomplishment, both for voice and ear, for instrumental 
and for vocal music. Not that my friends the Arabs are of the 



1 86 Bereydak [Chap.vi 

same opinion ; on the contrary, they imagine themselves perfect 
masters of song, and often deafen the too-courteous listener 
with screeches meant for airs, and torture him with nasalities 
supposed to be harmonious. The worst of all are the Bedouins ; 
and the enthusiasm of even a French philo-Oriental traveller 
would be hard tried by a nomade howling out at his ear " Aboo- 
Zeyd," the favourite Bedouin chaunt, on a hot day. The towns- 
men are little better, and in all cases the greatest favour to be 
begged of an Arab vocalist is his silence. 

On the other hand, the Persians have commonly good voices, 
and a true feeling of harmony. Their music, if not equal to 
the European standard, is at least pleasing, though, like most 
Asiatic melodies, somewhat melancholy. Their neighbours of 
Bagdad, indeed the inhabitants of the entire valley of the Tigris 
from Basrah to Diar-Bekr, partake more or less of their ear and 
voice, and a Bagdad singer will often make a large fortune in 
distant towns. A dash of music is to be found in Syria also, 
especially among the Damascenes, and next after them among 
the denizens of the sea-coast at Seyda, 'Akka, and the rest. The 
Turks are tolerably good songsters, but their airs are in general 
livelier, and approach nearer to the European. 

Many were the topics canvassed in our quiet circle while 
\ seated under the "heaven over heaven" of an Arab night, and 
hearkening to the shrill voices of the town, or the distant and 
more harmonious call of the Persian Mu'eddin. Government 
and religion, medicine and commerce, passed in review, plans 
and schemes, some already realized, some destined to lasting 
abortiveness, till the late hour sent our friends back to their 
houses to sleep, and we remained to pass our night on the 
cooler terrace. 

The zodiacal light, always discernible in these transparent 
skies, but now at its full equinoctial display, would linger cone- 
like in the west for full three hours after sunset, perfectly dis- 
tinct in colour, shape, and direction from the last horizontal 
glimmer of daylight ; while its re-appearance in the east long 
before morning could only be confounded by inexperience with 
the early dawn. Shooting stars glided over the vault, yet not 
more numerous I think than in Europe, did the clouds and 
mists of our northern climate permit them to be equally visible 
there. All night long, the watchmen on the towers cried and 



Chap, vi] A rabs and Persians 187 

answered at intervals, "Allahu Akbar," now the password of 
their province, and the city slept dark below with its silent 
groves and sands around. Remembrances of India and Syria, 
of Europe and home, now seemed as if belonging to another 
planet, or the indistinct unreality of a dream ; while Arabia and 
the Kaseem stood out in the definite solidity of actual existence. 
Now the semblances are reversed; yet at that time, when 
thinking on the waste of intervening deserts and seas yet to 
traverse, I hardly expected that it would again be so. In memo- 
riam ! 

Early in the morning the ringing of mprtfars and pestles in 
the neighbouring dwellings, where each householder was engaged 
in preparing his morning coffee, would awaken us to find Aboo- 
'Eysa already risen and busily pounding away in the courtyard 
below, where the flickering gleam of the wood-fire mingled with 
the grey twilight of dawn. No Arab, however good his condi-^ 
tion, thinks himself above coffee-makyig ; indeed it is mor< 
fashionable for a gentleman to prepare in person this beveras 
than to leave the operation to an inferior or slave. 

During our prolonged delay at Bereydah we occasionally left 
the town for a day's visit to the neighbouring villages of 'Askha, 
Mudneb, and others, the better to study rural life in Kaseem. 
I have already sufficiently described a country dwelling in what 
I related of our day's repose in the suburb of Doweyr under the 
arbour and roof-tree of Mubarek, and thus I need not again 
enter into details touching the houses of the peasantry, for they 
are all very uniform and on the same pattern, differing only in 
size. The villages themselves are clean and pleasant, not unlike 
those of Jafnapatam and Ceylon ; and what between shade and 
water, cool enough considering the southerly latitude. The 
soil itself belongs in full right to its cultivators, not to the 
government, as in Turkey : nor is it often in the hands of large 
proprietors like the Zemindars of India and the wealthier far- 
mers of England. On the other hand, the excessive Wahhabee 
taxes, if they do not wholly check, at least discourage, the exten- 
sion of agriculture. The tenth of the produce of the land in 
dates, corn, maize, and the like, is taken by the government in 
way of a regular duty, while extraordinary levies also, amounting 
sometimes to one-third of the harvest value, are repeatedly im- 
posed, above all on the occasion ofa " Djihad " or " sacred 



1 8 8 Bereydah [Chap, vi 

war," that is, of any war, for the Wahhabees are a sacred nation, 
being the genuine " little flock everywhere spoken against " of 
Islam, and the real orthodox believers, and no mistake ; hence 
all their wars are sacred too, so that none but heretics or infi- 
dels, or those who would wish to be held for such and treated 
accordingly, can refuse contribution to their pious campaigns. 

Cattle, that is, camels and sheep, are often bred and pastured 
here, but on a smaller scale than in Shomer, owing to the 
greater predominance of cultivated over uncultivated land. Yet 
they form considerable part of the country wealth, and suffice 
not for home use only, but for export also ; though the sheep 
are less esteemed by foreign purchasers than the mountain 
breed of Toweyk. Horses too are reared and exported east 
and north ; they resemble in every respect those of Djebel 
Shomer, and do not pass for real "Nejdees." Cows and oxen, 
none or next to none ; buffaloes, still less. The herdsmen 
and shepherds are sometimes villagers and sometimes Bedouins; 
but the former class has here outgrown in number and import- 
ance the latter. 

The duty levied on pasture cattle by the government is about 
a twentieth of their value ; and so far the shepherd in Kaseem 
is better off than the ploughman or gardener. But a special 
town duty on meat makes the tax on beasts almost as heavy in 
the long run as that exacted on the vegetable kingdom. Money 
also is taxed, one in forty ; and since it might be difficult for 
the duty-collector to get a sight of the purse itself, an estimate 
is made on the average income of each merchant and trader, 
and they have to pay accordingly. Moreover, members of the 
commercial class, whether subjects or foreigners, must furnish an 
import duty on their wares when brought within the frontiers ;• 
the rate is about four shillings a load, a heavy sum because 
levied on goods of much more bulk in general than costliness. 
Hence trading fares no better than agriculture or cattle breed- 
ing. To all this government absorption, we must add the 
occasional items of presents, bribes, local extortions, and not 
unfrequently downright oppression ; after which I leave my 
readers to judge whether the advantages of the highest dogmatic 
purity are worth the price paid for them in the more tangible 
goods of this lower world. The non-Wahhabee Arabs would, 
I fear, answer in the negative. Lastly, the frequency of war, 



Chap, vi] A rabs and Persians 1 89 

and the obligation of not only contributing to its sinews, but. of 
personally bearing art and part in it, hastens the decay of the 
province. 

With all this my readers must not suppose the Wahhabee 
government to be an unmixed wrong, or that it offers no good 
soever to counterbalance or to palliate its manifold disadvan- 
tages. Bad though it certainly is, it was preceded, at least in 
many places, by worse — by utter anarchy, by the feuds of local 
chieftains, by civil wars among townsmen, and the unrestrained 
insolence of the Bedouins. Robber and spoiler too the Nej- 
dean ruler is, yet with this redeeming feature, that he reserves 
all the robbing and spoiling to himself, and/Suffers no one else, 
nomade or citizen, to open a private account on his own score. 
Under Wahhabee rule the wayfarer who now traverses Kaseem, 
Sedeyr, Woshem, and all the other eight provinces of the cen- 
tral empire, will meet but few Bedouins, nor need ever fear 
those few ; merchant and villager, townsman and stranger, are 
alike freed from predatory inroad and roadside assault ; and so 
far as these rovers are concerned, commerce and cultivation 
may proceed uninterrupted and unimpaired. No local chief, 
unless perchance he be one of the Nejdean proconsuls, can 
trample on the rights of the subject, no village can plunder the 
gardens or cut down the fruit-trees of its neighbouring hamlet. 
The whole patent of oppression, general and individual, is re- 
served to the government, and to the government alone ; it is 
a sacred monopoly, a New Forest on which no one may poach 
with impunity. Hence, when the inhabitants of Ri'ad in my 
presence felicitated the Persian Na'ib, Mohammed-' Alee, on his 
safe arrival among them at the capital, and contrasted the 
bygone perils of Nejdean travelling with the security of the 
present day, the old Shirazee fox turned to me with a knowing 
wink, and said, but in Hindoostanee, and in an undertone, 
" Formerly there were fifty robbers here, now there is only 
one ; but that one is an equivalent for the fifty ; " a remark 
which recalled to my- mind the " ubi solitudinem faciunt, 
pacem appellant " of the Roman annalist. 

While on one of our suburban excursions we took the direc- 
tion of 'Oneyzah, but found it utterly impossible to arrive within 
its walls ; so we contented ourselves with an outside and dis- 
tant view of this large and populous town ; the number of its 



190 Bereydah [Chap, vi 

houses, and their size, judging by the overtopping summits that 
marked out the dwelling of Zamil and his family, far surpassed 
anything in Bereydah. The outer fortifications are enormously 
thick, and the girdle of palm-trees between them and the town 
affords a considerable additional defence to the latter. For all 
I could see, there is little/stonework in the constructions, they 
appear almost exclusiytdy of unbaked bricks ; yet even so they 
are formidable defences for Arabia. The whole country around 
and whatever lay north-east towards Bereydah was more or less 
ravaged by the/war ; and we were blamed by our friends as 
very rash in having ventured thus far ; in fact, it was a mere 
chance that we did not fall in with skirmishers or plunderers; 
and in such a case the military discipline of Kaseem would 
hardly have ensured our safety. 

Two whole weeks had thus passed, a third began, and Aboo- 
'Eysa was not yet ready to start, nor were the reasons which 
he at first assigned for this delay wholly satisfactoiy. At last 
the true cause of his dilatoriness came to light, and it was 
of a character to be accepted without blame or necessity for 
excuse. 

Mohammed-'Alee-esh-Shirazee, the Persian representative at 
Meshid 'Alee, and now entrusted with the headmanship of the 
national pilgrimage, had written " in Arabic and Persian," to 
Ri'ad, announcing the flight of Aboo-Boteyn, and the conduct 
of Mohanna, and thereon proposing to pay in his own person a 
visit to the capital, where he would state by word of mouth 
grievances too many and too serious to be entrusted to pen and 
ink. Feysul would most gladly have dispensed with the offered 
interview, but he feared lest the Persian should take occasion of 
a refusal to come to a total rupture, the result of which must be 
to deprive Nejed of its annual perquisites from the passage of 
the pilgrims. Accordingly he sent word to Mohanna to provide 
Mohammed-' Alee with an escort for his journey to Ri'ad, and 
to make his arrangements with the other Persians after a man- 
ner to ensure their safe return home. 

During the interval of these letters to and fro, the governor 
of Bereydah had wrung out of his Shiya'ee guests a sum amount- 
ing on the most moderate calculation to 1,600/. sterling, and 
could hardly now expect further subsidies. He had thus no 
great interest in detaining them any longer ; whereas to furnish 



Chap, vi] A rabs and Persians 191 

them with a guide was precisely a handle left in his power for 
obtaining an additional gain, by a charge laid on the profits 
attached to such a service. But he was not over-disposed to 
gratify the Na'ib (for such was the official title of Mohammed- 
'Alee, and by it we will henceforth designate him for brevity's 
sake) both with guides and beasts of burden, since these he 
could hardly have supplied otherwise than gratis. So he ob- 
served on that point of his instructions a prudent silence, and 
resolved to oblige the Persian grandee to shift for himself. 

The Na'ib was now in somewhat the same predicament as 
ours had been, seeking for companions and finding none ; for 
even the guarantee of a royal invitation^jvas insufficient to 
remove all doubts touching what reception he might meet in 
Ri'ad ; nor were the men of Kaseem ambitious of a visit to the 
Wahhabee capital. At last he had recourse for counsel and 
help to Aboo-'Eysa, with whom he had been on very good 
terms throughout their previous journey. This latter was will- 
ing enough to undertake the office of bear-leader, but he had 
not then by him enough beasts of burden to suffice for the 
occasion, and many days went by before he could procure a 
sufficient number. 

Meanwhile the Na'ib, as was natural, introduced himself to 
us. He was a thorough Persian, and full sixty years old or even 
more, but in full vigour of body, and, had he not been an habi- 
tual opium-chewer, of mind too ; his beard and whiskers were 
so carefully dyed with henna and black, that at a little distance 
he might almost have passed for a man of forty. He spoke 
Arabic badly, Turkish somewhat better, and Hindoostanee 
remarkably well, for he had been many years agent of the Per- 
sian government at Hyderabad in the Deccan ; very witty and 
enjoying a joke, verbal or practical, shrewd from long conver- 
sance with affairs, though, like most Persians too, not difficult 
to dupe ; talkative and gay, but occasionally yielding to violent 
and most indecorous fits of passion ; a devout Shiya'ee and 
adorer of 'Alee and the Mahdee, at the mention of whose name 
I have seen him prostrate himself full length on the ground ; in 
a word, he was a " character," and the circumstances of the 
journey brought him out in every light and every point of view. 
His attendants, 'Alee, Hasan, and the Hajj Hoseyn, a sort of 
head-muleteer, had nothing to distinguish them except their 



19 2 Bereydah [Chap, vi 

coarseness, their noisy Shiya'ee fanaticism, and their unmea- 
sured declamations against Arabs and Wahhabees, the whole 
in the corrupt slang dialect of Bagdad and Meshid, presenting 
a curious contrast with the absolute purity and minute correct- 
ness of the language spoken around them. We now became 
fully acquainted with these men, our destined fellow-travellers 
to Ri'ad, and our next-door neighbours there ; their visits 
helped us to pass a time otherwise tedious from hope deferred. 

September closed, and then finally Mohanna selected a guide 
to lead Taj-Djehan and the associates of her pilgrimage to the 
banks of Euphrates. The Persians duly paid the price of their 
deliverance, and departed on the north-western track, having 
about twenty-five days' march before them, and slender pro- 
visions. However, during my stay at Bagdad in the following 
spring, I was happy to learn that they had all at last arrived in 
safety. 

Aboo-'Eysa too, after many delays inseparable from borrow- 
ing, found the desired camels, and we now prepared ourselves 
for the road. But before starting, an unlucky incident took 
place, sufficient in itself to reveal the weak point of our over- 
confiding guide. One evening that Aboo-'Eysa with his Persian 
friends were at supper in our house, Habbash, an ill-conditioned 
mulatto servant whom he had taken in tow more from compas- 
sion than anything else when leaving Medinah, profited by his 
master's absence from camp to elope, carrying off with him in 
his flight Aboo-'Eysa's best cloak, some money, and last, not 
least, the large brass mortar for pounding coffee. Now the 
mortar was a remarkably fine one, of excellent metal, and used 
to give out a very melodious bell-like ring when at work, and 
hence its owner was particularly fond of it, and seldom left it 
idle. Nor was it easy, or even possible, to find such another 
one at Bereydah ; and to make matters worse, the loss occurred 
just when we had a ten days' journey before us, and stood more 
in need of aromatic solace than ever ; nor had the Na'ib any 
similar utensil among his baggage, being, like most of his 
nation, not a coffee but a tea drinker. The loss of the aforesaid 
mortar was accordingly " the most unkindest cut of all," and 
Aboo-'Eysa swore that he would have it back at any price. So 
he sent off two or three friends to hunt after the fugitive 
Habbash and his booty, and then went on the chase himself. 



Chap, vi] A rabs and Persians 193 

But after two days lost in vain research news came that the 
thief had been seen on the Medinah road towards Henakeeyah, 
and so far advanced that no hope remained of catching either 
him or the mortar. Fortunately I carried about with me a 
small brazen implement wherein to pound "poisoned poisons" 
for my patients ; this we now washed out carefully, and applied 
it to more social uses during our way to the capital, where at 
last Aboo-'Eysa found a supplement if not an equivalent for 
his loss. 

When all was ready for the long-expected departure, it was 
definitely fixed for the 3rd of October, a^Friday, I think, at 
nightfall. Since our first interview Barakat and myself had not 
again presented ourselves before Mohanna, except in chance 
meetings, accompanied by distant salutations in the street or 
market-place ; and we did not see any need for paying him a 
special farewell call. Indeed, after learning who and what he 
was, we did our best not to draw his grey eye on us, and 
thereby escaped some additional trouble and surplus duties to 
pay, nor did any one mention us to him. At star-rise we bade 
our host and householder Ahmed a final adieu, and left the 
town with Aboo-'Eysa for our guide. 



194 



CHAPTER VII 
From Bereydah to Ri'ad 

The portion of this world which I at present 
Have taken up to fill the present sermon, 

Is one of which there's no description recent ; 
The reason why is easy to determine. 

Byron 

Two Routes from Bereydah to Ri'ad — We take the Longer — Camels and Dro~ 
medaries — Night Travelling — Rowedah — Country Hospitality — Uplands 
— Route across the Nefood — Wasit — Its Inhabitants — Valley of Zulphah — 
Night at Zulphah — Gazelles — A Solibah Girl and the Nctib — Djebel 
Toweyk, its Extent, Character, Direction of its Streams, Climate — Village 
of Ghat — Sedeyr Hospitality, Conversation, Tone of Society — TheAkabah 
— Plateau of Toweyk — A Storm — Mejmad — ' Abd-d-Mahsin and his 
Castle — Tobacco — Route on the Plateau — A Running Stream — Djelajil 
and Rowdah — Meteyr Bedouins — Toweym — The Town, its Character 
and Inhabitants — Insects and Reptiles in Central Arabia — Hafr — Tho- 
meyr — An Adventure in the Village — Solibah Lad — A Garden — Route 
by Theneeyat- Atdlah — Sadik — Wooded Country — Hares — Ifoolah — Ifo- 
reymelah — Its Castle — Ibraheem Basha — From Horeymelah to Sedoos — 
Frontier of ' Aared — Uplands — Wadi Haneefah — Ruins of ''Eyanah — 
Rowdah — Wadi Haneefah continued — Malka — Ruins of Derey ) eeyah~ 
Garden of ' Abd-er-Rahman — Road to Rfad. 

Our party assembled close under the walls by the eastern gate, 
a little to the north of the watch-tower, and not far from the 
tents of Mohammed, son of Feysul. The Na'ib now came up 
with his three companions ; Barakat, Aboo-'Eysa, and myself 
made three more; Hoseyn-el-Basree, a gay young merchant 
from the town whose name he bore, and the two Meccans, 
who, weary of ill luck at Bereydah, had determined to try the 
doubtful generosity of Feysul, completed the number of travel- 
lers, ten in all. Besides, as the first stages of our march might 
Possibly expose us to a chance meeting with the predatory 



Chap, vii] From Bereydah to Ri'ad 195 

bands of 'Oneyzah, Mohanna had, after much demur, furnished 
the Na'ib with a body-guard of three or four matchlock-men, 
who were to accompany us up to the frontiers of Kaseem. 

Two roads lay before us. The shorter, and for that reason 
the more frequented of the two, led south-east-by-east through 
• Woshem and Wadi Haneefah to Ri'ad. But this track passed 
through a district often visited at the present moment by the 
troops of 'Oneyzah and their allies, and hence our companions, 
not over-courageous for the most, were afraid to follow it. 
Another road, much more circuitous, but farther removed from 
the scene of military operations, led north-east to Zulphah, and 
thence entered the province of Sedeyr, whicli it traversed in a 
south-easterly or southern direction, and thus reached the 
'Aared. Our council of war resolved on the latter itinerary, 
nor did we ourselves regret a roundabout which promised to 
procure us the sight of much that we might scarcely have other- 
wise an opportunity of visiting. Barakat and I were mounted 
on two excellent dromedaries of Aboo-'Eysa's stud ; the Na'ib 
\ was on a lovely grey she-camel, with a handsome saddle, crimson 
\ and gold. The Meccans shared between them a long-backed 
black beast ; the rest were also mounted on camels or dro- 
medaries, since the road before us was impracticable for horses, 
at any rate at this time of year. 

It may be well to make my readers aware once for all of the 
fact that the popular home idea of a dromedary having two 
humps, and a camel one, or vice versa (for I have forgotten 
which of the animals is supplied with a duplicate boss in co- 
loured picture-books), is a simple mistake. The camel and the 
dromedary in Arabia are the same identical genus and creature, 
excepting that the dromedary is a high-bred camel, and the 
camel a low-bred dromedary, exactly the same distinction whicli 
exists between a race-horse and a hack; both are horses, but the 
one of blood, the other not. The dromedary is the race-horse 
of his species, thin, elegant (or comparatively so), fine-haired, 
light of step, easy of pace, and much more enduring of thirst 
than the woolly, thick-built, heavy-footed, ungainly, and jolting 
camel. But both and each of them have only one hump, placed 
immediately behind their shoulders, where it serves as a fixing- 
point for the saddle or burden. For the two-humped beast, it 
exists indeed, but it is neither an Arabi dromedary nor camel ; 

02 1 



196 From Berey dak [Chap.vii 

it belongs to the Persian breed, called by the Arabs " Bakhtee" 
or Bactrian. Perhaps there may be a specimen of it at the 
Zoological Gardens, and thither who chooses may go and have 
a look at it, only let him not profane the name of "dromedary" 
by applying it to the clumsy, coarse-haired, upland Persian beast 
before him. To see real live dromedaries, my readers must, I 
fear, come to Arabia, for these animals are not often to be met 
with elsewhere, not even in Syria; and whoever wishes to con- 
template the species in all its beauty must prolong his journey 
to 'Oman, the most distant corner of the Peninsula, and which 
is for dromedaries what Nejed is for horses, Cachemire for 
sheep, and Thibet, I believe, for bulldogs. 

Night had fairly set in, but the moon, now in her second 
quarter, shone bright, and promised us yet seven or eight hours 
of her lamp. Canopus glittered in all his splendour to the 
south, and Orion was to rise before long. Off we started at 
a round pace, and trotted over the sand-hills that girdle in 
Bereydah, now up, now down, and then on by moonshine 
among bushes and grass, over hillock and plain, with at times 
a mass of dark foliage in sight, to indicate where stood some 
village, but we halted at none. The night air soon cooled into 
a chill ; our party was not at first a very cheerful one. The 
Na'ib had parted from Mohanna in a fit of extreme ill humour; 
his attendants were sulky to keep in tune with their master ; the 
two Meccans could not decide between them which should ride 
their single camel and which should walk, and by their frequent 
changes of method reminded me of the farmer and his son 
going with their ass to market, only with less equability of 
temper; and Aboo-'Eysa was making ineffectual attempts to 
enliven the party, though he, too, had not wholly recovered 
from the annoyance consequent on the disappearance of his 
servant and coffee-mortar. The Nej deans kept aloof, look- 
ing on us conjointly as a pack of reprobates, whom they 
would more gladly plunder than escort. Lastly, Barakat and 
myself were not without anxiety touching what might lie 
before us at Ri'ad, so dismal had been the tales recounted 
to us in Kaseem about the Wahhabee capital, its rulers and 
people. 

But sad or merry, we were now embarked, and on we went 
in speed and silence. At last the moon lowered, reddened, and" 



Chap. VII] 



to Ri y ad 197 



then obliquely sank, while we began to hope for the rest and 
sleep that all stood much in need of. However, Aboo-Eysa, 
who preferred encamping in the neighbourhood of habitations 
to a desert bivouac, despised our expostulations, and made us 
push on in spite of weariness, till about an hour before day- 
break, and just at the period of night when the darkness is 
darkest, we suddenly found ourselves on the edge of deep 
water-channels and standing maize, while high walls loomed 
through the obscurity beyond. It was Roweydah, a small vil- 
lage, but well provided with irrigation, and the gardens before 
us were the private property of Mohanna, wh^ had planted and 
arranged them during his presidency in the^province. Here we 
were to halt, and try what hospitality the inhabitants would 
show. 

Some one way, some another, for between darkness and 
drowsiness we went at it like drunken men, after much shouting 
and splashing we floundered through and out of the watery 
labyrinth, and reached the high village gate. There we en- 
tered, and discovered what looked like a castle on the one 
side, with an open space on the other. In this latter we flung 
ourselves down on the ground, without further questions, to 
sleep, and I hope that Aboo-'Eysa looked after the baggage, 
for we certainly did not 

Two hours of morning nap after a long night journey are 
I equal to six hour^'at any other time. The risen sun awoke us, 
f and we began to rub our eyes and reconnoitre our position. 
We had been sleeping by the side of a small tank ; hard by 
were low-built houses and court-walls ; on the other hand our 
castle, which now turned out to be the chief's, or rather the 
head farmer's abode, but spacious and lofty enough for a baron 
of the feudal times. We washed hands, faces, and feet (for our 
dress list, it is needless to say, did not include those European- 
ized articles, stockings), and made straight for the K'hawah of 
this princely dwelling, sure to find morning coffee in function. 
The Na'ib seated himself in due state near the master of the 
house, while we, entirely eclipsed by the grandeurs of a Persian 
ambassador on his way to Feysul, modestly took our places 
lower down. Many villagers came in to stare at the strangers, 
and to partake of coffee on their account. The meeting ter- 
minated by an invitation of all to breakfast in the garden 



198 From Bereydah [Chap, vi.i 

belonging to Mohanna, for the head man here was also country 
bailiff to the Bereydah governor. 

A very pretty garden it was — fig-trees and orange-trees, 
pomegranates and peaches, with stone-rimmed watercourses 
and tank^ and walks among the shubbery arranged with more 
taste apd symmetry than Arabs usually display in their horti- 
cultural efforts. Carpets were spread under an overshadowing 
group of palms, and while the more solid repast was preparing, 
melons of all shapes and sizes were piled up before us for a 
whet. The Na'ib produced a tea-urn with its complete appur- 
tenances, not other than might have beseemed an English 
drawing-room, besides a beautiful Persian pipe or Nargheelah, 
silver-mounted and elegantly adorned. Its owner had now 
recovered his good-humour, and his satellites with him. By 
nature they were downright bears ; but just now the prospect 
of a good breakfast had an admirable effect on their minds, 
and they were agreeable to the best of their abilities. Aboo- 
'Eysa was far too accustomed to such characters, and to the 
varying incidents of travelling, to be easily elated or depressed, 
and kept an even good-nature in his face and air, though he 
sometimes in private permitted himself very sarcastic remarks 
on the bad breeding of the Persians. 

But he had a side intrigue to carry on, which occasioned 
many and long conversations between him and the Na'ib, and 
effectually obviated any serious chance of their falling out. 
Aboo-Boteyn, Feysul's ci-devant pilgrim-agent, had been on 
indifferent terms with Aboo-'Eysa, and had even done him 
positive injury. His elopement to 'Oneyzah now left his 
office vacant; it was a lucrative one, and exactly suited to 
our friend's ways, and to his long-standing familiarity with the 
Shiya'ees. They too had experienced his toleration and honest 
conduct, and held him in high esteem. The Na'ib for his part 
hoped to obtain at Ri'ad full satisfaction for the past, and a 
guarantee of better things for the future. But he was an utter 
stranger at the Wahhabee court. A pact was therefore made 
between him and Aboo-'Eysa ; the latter was to give him the 
entrees, to facilitate his access to Feysul (no easy matter), and 
to dispose the ministers and every one else in his favour; while 
the Na'ib was to exact of the Wahhabee autocrat as a sine qua 
non condition of good understanding hereafter, that Aboo- 



Chap. VII] to Ri'dd 1 99 

'Eysa should henceforth be sole conductor and plenipotentiary 
guide of the Persian pilgrims through Nejed. Such was the 
plan, long discussed, and at last fully agreed on, and all 
necessary steps in furtherance of its execution were accurately 
calculated and determined. We shall see the result before 
leaving Ri'ad. 

The forenoon was far advanced before the sheep, the victim 
of our banquet^ad been killed, skinned, boiled, and served up 
with rice, ezgs, and other delicacies of the season. A hearty 
meal followed, and after a short interval of repose we got our 
baggage ready, thanked our host, and set out towards the 
nortri-east. J 

Our road yet lay in Kaseem, whose^Tiighlands we rejoined 
once more, and traversed till sunset. The view was very beauti- 
ful from its extent and variety of ups and downs, in broad 
grassy hills; little groups of trees stood in scattered detach- 
ments around; and had a river, that desideratum of Arabia, 
been in sight, one might almost have fancied oneself in the 
country bordering the Lower Rhine for some part of its course; 
readers may suppose, too, that there was less verdure here than 
in the European parallel ; my comparison bears only on the 
general turn of the view. No river exists nearer Kaseem than 
Shatt, some hundred leagues off ; and our eyes had been too 
long accustomed to the deceptive pools of the mirage, to as- 
sociate with them even a passing idea of aught save drought 
and heat. 

We journeyed on till dark, and then reached certain hillocks 
of a different character from the hard ground lately under our 
feet. Here began the Nefood, whose course from south-west 
to north-east, and then north, parts between I£aseem, Woshem, 
and Sedeyr. I have already said something of these sandy 
inlets when describing that which we crossed three months ago 
between Djowf and Shomer. The Nefood actually before us 
was fortunately narrower than our old acquaintance, but in 
other respects like it or worse. However, October is not July, 
even in Arabia, and we had this time a better guide in our 
company than the Bedouin Djedey'. 

On the verge of the desert strip we now halted a little, to eat 
a hasty supper, and to drink, the Arabs coffee and the Persians 
tea. But journeying in these sands, under the heat of the day, 



200 From Bereydah [Chap, vii 

is alike killing to man and beast, and therefore Aboo-'Eysa had 
resolved that we should cross the greater portion under favour 
of the cooler hours of night. In pursuance of his idea, we were 
again mounted and on our way before the slanting pyramid of 
zodiacal light had faded in the west. 

All night, a weary night, we waded up and down through 
waves of sand, in which the camels often sank up to their 
knees, and their riders were obliged to alight and help them 
on. There was no symptom of a track, no landmark to direct 
our way ; the stars alone were now our compass and guide ; 
but Aboo-'Eysa had passed this Nefood more than once, and 
knew the line of march by heart. When the first pale streak 
of dawn appeared on our right shoulder, we were near the 
summit of a sandy mountain, and the air tjlew keener than I 
had yet felt it in Arabia. We halted, an$ gathered together 
heaps of Ghada and other desert shrubs ko light blazing fires, 
by which some sat, some lay and slept, nivself for one, till the 
rising sunbeams tipped the yellow crests around, and we re- 
sumed our way. 

Now by full daylight appeared the true character of the 
region which we were traversing; its aspect resembled the 
Nefood north of Djebel Shorn er, but the undulations were 
here higher and deeper, and the sand itself lighter and less 
stable. In most spots neither shrub nor blade of grass could 
fix its root, in others a scanty vegetation struggled through, 
but no trace of man anywhere. The camels ploughed slowly 
on ; the Persians, unaccustomed to such scenes, were down- 
cast and silent; all were tired, and no wonder. At last, a 
little before noon, and just as the sun's heat was becoming 
intolerable, we reached the verge of an immense crater-like 
hollow, certainly three or /our miles in circumference, where 
tie sand-billows receded an every side, and left in the midst a 
p|t seven or eight hundred feet in depth, at whose base we 
could discern a white gle|m of limestone rock, and a small 
group of houses, trees, and gardens, thus capriciously isolated 
in the very heart of the desei 

This was the little village and oasis of Wasit, or " the inter- 
mediary," so called because a central point between the three 
provinces of Kaseem, Sedeyr, and Woshem, yet belonging to 
none of them. Nor is it often visited by wayfarers, as we 



Chap. VII] to Ri'dd 201 

learnt from the inhabitants, men simple and half savage, from 
their little intercourse with the outer world, and unacquainted 
even with the common forms of Islamitic prayer, though 
dwelling in the midst of the Wahhabee dominions. They 
enquired from us about the current news of 'Oneyzah and 
other events of the day, much after the fashion that a Lincoln- 
shire peasant might ask for/the news of the Mexican war or 
the Cochin-China expedition — things far distant, and only 
known by in distinct repqA Aboo-'Eysa said that in his wander- 
ings he had met with cither like islets of vegetation and human 
life, but even moreycut off from social /intercourse, world- 
forgetting, and worM-forgotten. Lastly, "there exist also oases 
totally untenanted^ave by birds and gazelles, especially in the 
southern waste. 

A long winding descent brought us to the bottom of the 
valley, where on our arrival men and boys came out to stare 
at the Persians, and by exacting double prices for fruit and 
camel's milk, proved themselves not altogether such fools as 
they looked. For us, regarded as Arabs, we enjoyed their 
hospitality — it was necessarily a limited one — gratis ; where- 
upon the Na'ib grew jealous, and declaimed against the Arabs 
as " infidels," for not treating with suitable generosity pilgrims 
like themselves returning from the " house of God." 

To get out of this pit was no easy matter ; facilis descensus, 
&c, thought T ; no ascending path showed itself in the required 
direction, and every one tried to push up his floundering beast 
where the sand appeared at a manageable slope, and firm to the 
footing. Camels and men fell and rolled back down the decli- 
vity, till some of the party shed tears of vexation, and others, 
more successful, laughed at the annoyance of their companions. 
Aboo-'Eysa ran about from one to the other, attempting to 
direct and keep them together, till finally, as Heaven willed, 
we reached the upper rim to the north. 

Before us lay what seemed a storm-driven sea of fire in the 
red light of afternoon, and through it we wound our way, till 
about an hour before sunset we fell in with a sort of track or 
furrow. Next opened out on our road a long long descent, 
at whose extreme base we discerned the important and com- 
mercial town of Zulphah. Beyond it rose the wall-like steeps 
of Djebel Toweyk, so often heard of, and now seen close at 



h 



202 From Bereydah [Chap, vii 

hand. Needless to say how joyfully we welcomed the first 
view of that strange ridge, the heart and central knot of 
Arabia, beyond which whatever lay might almost be reckoned 
as a return journey. 

We had now, in fact, crossed the Nefood, and had at our 
feet the great valley which constitutes the main line of com- 
munication between Nejed and the north, reaching even to 
\ the Tigris and Bagdad. The sun was setting when we reached 
• the lowest ebb of the sand ocean, and left its enormous waves 
piled up ridge above ridge behind us ; Barakat and myself, 
thanks to the excellent fibre of our dromedaries, were far in 
front of our associates, and we willingly allowed the beasts to 
turn aside from the track and feed on the copious pasturage of 
Themam, a ragged sweet-smelling grass common throughout 
Nejed, and often mentioned by the poets, while we gazed now 
on the red range in our rear, now on the long valley stretching 
upon our frght and left, to north and south, with the broken 
outlines Of the walls of Zulphah a mile or more in front, and 
now on the precipitous though low fortress-ledge of Toweyk 
which bordered the horizon. 

Night was fast coming on when we entered the scattered 
plantations of Zulphah. We traversed them awhile, amid en- 
quiries from peasants returning home after their day's labour, 
and barking dogs who objected to our intrusion on their pre- 
cincts at so late an hour. In the town itself we were at once 
surprised by meeting a much larger proportion of women 
than of men. This was occasioned by the absence of a great 
part of the male population in the war of 'Oneyzah. 

We picked out our way to the palace of the governor, a 
Nejdean by birth, and said to have collected large riches while 
here in office. For the town is not only warlike but wealthy; 
it is the meeting-point and depot of the north-bound com- 
merce from Sedeyr, 'Aared, Woshem, and whatever adjoins them; 
and its inhabitants are themselves no inconsiderable mer- 
chants and very bold travellers, often to be seen at Zobeyr, 
Koweyt, and Basrah. Their town is moreover the key of Nejed 
on this side, and an important military position, barring the 
entrance of the valley where it stands, and which communicates 
directly with Wadi Haneefah, by which it leads to the capital 
itself. 



Chap. VII] to Rl ' dd 203 

Arrived at the palace gate we were duly announced to the 
governor, but his highness was not in the hospitable vein that 
evening, and would not even allow us the shelter of the court- 
yard, so we encamped in the open air at the foot of his outer 
wall near the gateway. A band of Solibahs had pitched their 
tents a little lower down; they had just come from a hunting 
expedition somewhere to the north to sell their game in 
Zulphah. 

Meanwhile the town governor half repented him of his dis- 
courtesy, and generously resolved to give us board, though not 
lodging. In pursuance of this better thought he sent some 
of his attendants to the Solibahs, and purchased from them a 
fine deer; this was handed over to the Na'ib's servants, who 
set about dressing it for supper. The Solibahs affirmed that 
it belonged to a peculiar species that never drinks water, 
and whose flesh is supposed to have a super-excellent flavour ; 
and certainly the specimen before us was excellent eating, be- 
sides being served up with an extraordinary allowance of that 
best of sauces, hunger. 

Next morning the Na'ib was too tired to set out early, and 
we all waited where we were for an hour or more after sunrise. 
Barakat and myself strolled about among the Solibah tents, 
where the full forms and comparatively fair complexions of 
their tenants, their large eyes very unlike the narrow peepers 
of most Bedouins, and a peculiar cast of features, helped to 
confirm me in the belief of what report asserts touching the 
northerly origin of these wanderers, probably Syrian. The 
women were unveiled, and quite as forward as the men, or 
forwarder. A very pretty girl of the tribe played off this morn- 
ing a trick too characteristic for omission. Its victim was the 
old Na'ib, who was now up and taking his draught of early tea. 
The young lady, accompanied by two of her relatives, contrived 
to come and go backwards and forwards before the Persian group, 
till her glances had fairly wounded Mohammed-' Alee's heart. 
He engaged her in a long and endearing conversation, and 
ended by a proposal of marriage. The family with well-affected 
joy gave a seeming assent, and accordingly when at last we 
climbed our dromedaries to pursue our journey, behold the dark- 
eyed gipsy-featured nymph with an elderly Solibah relation, per- 
haps her father, both mounted on scraggy camels, alongside of 




204 From Bereydak [Chap, vii 

the Na'ib, who with looks of unutterable tenderness was making 
the handsomest offers to his future bride. These she received 
With becoming bashfulness, and for half an hour of the way 
bantered her enamoured Strephon to her heart's content; till 
on our making a brief halt for breakfast at the verge of the 
town-gardens, she pretended to recollect I know not what valu- 
able left behind at the Solibah camp, and went back with her 
kinsman to fetch it, after giving a woman's promise of a speedy 
return. The deluded swain tarried in hope, and made us all 
tarry in impatience for nearly two hours; but neither bride nor 
bridesman reappeared, and the Na'ib had to console himself 
with the thought of the half-dozen spouses (I had it from him- 
self) who awaited him on his return home to Meshid 'Alee, as 
he slowly and sadly remounted his dromedary, and added 
another chapter to the long collection of anecdotes which, like 
most bad men, he loved to recount about the deceitfulness of 
the fair sex. ■ 

We had now passed the whole length of the town, several 
streets of which had been lately swept away by the winter 
torrents that pour at times their short-lived fury down this 
valley. Before us to the south-east stretched the long hollow; 
on our right was the Nefood, on our left Djebel Toweyk and 
the province of Sedeyr. The mountain air blew cool, and 
this day's journey was a far pleasanter one than its prede- 
cessor. We continued our march down the valley till the after- 
noon, when we saw in front a remarkable promontory or 
" Khosheym," literally, "a little nose," the generic name here 
for all jutting crags, starting out abruptly from the mountain 
level into the gully beneath, which here divides. We followed 
neither branch, but turned aside into a narrow gorge running 
up at a sharp angle to the north-east, and thus entered between 
the heights of Djebel Toweyk itself. 

This mountain essentially constitutes Nejed. It is a wide 
and flat chain, or rather plateau, whose general form is that of 
a huge crescent. If I may be permitted here to give my rough 
guess regarding the elevation of the main plateau, a guess 
grounded partly on the vegetation, climate, and similar local 
features, partly on an approximate estimate of the ascent itself, 
and of the subsequent descent on the other or sea, side, I should 
say that it varies from a height of one to two thousand feet 



Chap. VII] to R? ad 205 

above the surrounding level of the Peninsula, and may thus 
be about three thousand feet at most abofe the sea. Its 
loftiest ledges occur in the Sedeyr district, where we shall pass 
them before long; the centre and the south-westerly arm is 
certainly lower. Djebel Toweyk is the middle knot of Arabia, 
its Caucasus, so to say; and is still, as it has often been in 
former times, the turning point of the whole, or almost the 
whole, Peninsula in a political and national bearing. To it 
alone is the term "Nejed," strictly and topographically ap- 
plied; although the same denomination is sometimes, nay, often, 
given by the Arabs themselves to all the inland provinces now 
under Wahhabee rule; and hence Yemamah, Hareek, Aflaj, 
Dowasir, and Kaseem have acquired the name of " Nejed," but 
more in a governmental than in a geographical sense. 

As for the name " Toweyk," it is a diminutive form of the 
word "Towk," or "garland," "twist," and thus signifies "the 
little garland," or " little twist." It is for the most of calca- 
reous formation, though toward east and south peaks of granite 
are sometimes intermixed with the limestone rock, or clustered 
apart. The extreme verge is almost always abrupt, and takes a 
bold rise of about five or six. hundred feet sheer in chalky cliffs 
from the adjoining plain. Then succeeds a table-land, various 
in extent, and nearly level throughout ; then another step of 
three or four hundred feet, followed by a second and higher 
table-land; and occasionally a third and yet loftier plateau 
crowns the second ; but the summit is invariably flat, excepting 
the few granite crests on the further side of Sedeyr and towards 
Yemamah. These high grounds are for the most clothed on 
their upper surface with fine and sufficient pasture, which lasts 
throughout the year; but the greater the elevation the less is 
the fertility and the drier the soil. Trees, solitary or in little 
groups, are here common ; not indeed the well-known Ithel of 
the plain, but the Sidr (or, according to the.Nejdean dialect, 
Sedeyr, whence the name of one great province), or the Markh, 
with its wide-spreading oak-like branches, and the tangled 
thorny Talh. Little water is to be found, at any rate in autumn, 
though I saw some spots that appeared to have pools in spring; 
we met with one perennial source, and one only. 

The entire plateau is intersected by a maze of valleys, some 
broad, some narrow, some long and winding, some of little 



2o6 From Bereydah [Chap, vii 

length, but almost all bordered with steep and at times pre- 
cipitous banks, and looking as though they had been artificially 
cut out in the limestone mountain. In these countless hollows 
is concentrated the fertility and the population of Nejed ; 
gardens and houses, cultivation and villages, hidden from view 
among the depths while one journeys over the dry flats (I had 
well-nigh called them " denes," for they often reminded me of 
those near Great Yarmouth) above, till one comes suddenly on 
the mass of emerald green beneath. One would think that two 
different lands and climates had been somehow interwoven into 
one, yet remained unblended. The soil of these valleys is light, 
and mixed with marl, sand, and little pebbles washed down 
from the heights, for everywhere their abrupt edges are furrowed 
by torrent tracks, that collecting above rush over in winter, and 
often turn the greater part of the gully below into a violent 
watercourse for two or three days, till the momentary supply 
is spent, and then pools and plashes remain through the months 
of spring, while the most of the water sinks underground, where 
it forms an unfailing supply for the wells in summer, or breaks 
out once more in living springs amid the low lands of Has a 
and Kateef, towards the sea-coast, and beyond the outskirts of 
Djebel Toweyk itself. However, none of these winter torrents 
find their way unbroken to the sea ; some are at once reabsorbed, 
while yet within the limits of the mountain labyrinth, whose 
watershed, I should add, lies on the eastern, not on the western 
side ; while a few, so the natives of the country told me, make 
their way right through Toweyk to the Nefood on the west, or 
to the Dahna on the east and south, and are there speedily lost 
in the deep sands, where a Rhine or a Euphrates could hardly 
avoid a similar fate. 

However, though above-ground waters are rare and temporary, 
the underground provision is constant and copious, and hence 
the great fertility of these valleys. Nor is the water hard to 
get at, for the depth of the wells throughout Nejed seldom ex- 
ceeds twelve or fifteen feet from the upper rim to the water, 
and often less, especially towards the southern half of 'Aared 
and Yemamah. I had forgotten to say, in my topographical 
description of Kaseem, that the water of that province has very 
generally a saltish taste, just enough to be perceptible, but not 
disagreeable, at least to those accustomed to drink from our 



Ghap. vii] to Ri'ad 207 

own Norfolk "swipes." But here in Nejed water is hardly 
ever brackish, but presents instead sensible traces of iron. 
These phenomena find a ready explanation in the conditions of 
the respective soils themselves. Rocksalt of the purest quality 
is common in Kaseem, we have seen it a cheap and abundant 
article of sale at Bereydah, and throughout the province the 
earth has a saline flavour when placed on the tongue. On the 
other hand, in Nejed, and particularly towards the eastern 
shelves of the plateau, iron ore occurs in quantities sufficient 
to attract even Arab notice, and near Soley' I saw a whole range 
of decidedly ferrugineous hills, and was told/of more. Hence, 
the chalybeate acquirements of the water when it filters through 
its underground passages. 

The climate of tiie northern part of Djebel Toweyk, whether 
plateau or valley, %>incident with the province of Sedeyr, is 
perhaps one of the healthiest in the world ; an exception might 
be made in favour of ^JjeBeT'Shomer alone. The above-named 
districts resemble each other closely in dryness of atmosphere, 
and the inhabitants of Sedeyr, like those of Shomer, are 
remarkable for their ruddy complexion and well developed 
stature. But when we approach the centre of the mountain 
crescent, where its whole level lowers, while the more southerly 
latitude brings it nearer to the prevailing influences of the 
tropical zone, the air becomes damper and more relaxing, and 
a less salubrious climate pictures itself in the sallower faces and 
slender make of its denizens. 

I had said that just before the bifurcation of the valley, our 
conductor led us aside by a sharp turn to the north-east, where 
we entered a gorge of Djebel Toweyk, and found ourselves thus 
within the limits of the province of Sedeyr. We had not long 
followed the narrow pass, when trees and verdure clustering up 
against its left side, indicated our approach to human habitation. 
Here nestled the village of Ghat, a name common to many 
localities in Central Arabia, and sometimes varied into Ghoweyt, 
Ghoutah, Ghoweytah, and so forth ; all words implying " a hol- 
low," with an idea of fertility annexed; just the same topogra- 
phical peculiarity which obtains sometimes in our own country 
the familiar denomination of " punch-bowl." It was now that 
latter part of the afternoon which Arabs call 'Asr, when we 
entered the welcome shade, and made straight for the chiefs 



208 From Bereydah [Chap, vii 

house. Like the rest of the village it was situated on the 
margin of the valley, close under the white cliff, and so placed 
the better to escape the injuries of torrents pouring down the 
mid hollow in the rainy season. The traces of water were 
indeed too evident throughout the valley, and some houses 
built too low down had been already ruined. The wells were so 
copiously supplied, even at this the very driest season of the 
year, that their overflow sufficed to fill a large reservoir from 
which ran on all sides rivulets which might almost have been 
taken for natural, overshadowed by the fig-tree, the pomegranate* 
and the palm. The houses, like the gardens, w r ere prettily 
placed in shelving rows one above the other against the moun- 
tain rise. Before the chiefs own residence was an open space, 
and close by a true Wahhabee mosque, large and unadorned, a 
mere meeting-house, unprofaned by the post-Mahomet inven- 
tions of minarets and carpets. Here we were in Nejed; and if 
I did not exactly sympathise with the feelings of Touchstone 
on his arrival in Arden, I could not but feel that his remarks 
then and there had a certain truth ; " but travellers must be 
content." 

However, the inhabitants of Nejed at large, and especially 
those of Sedeyr, have one good quality, very consolatory for 
those who leave home to visit their land — I mean hospitality 
to their guests. For this they are famed in Arabia and out 
of Arabia, in prose and verse, and they really deserve their 
reputation. The chief of Ghat was a native of the province, 
young, cheerful, and exquisitely polite. We were all invited in, 
our camels were looked after, and we ourselves soon seated in 
the large and lofty K'hawah, where chequered sunbeams aslant 
through the trellised windows illuminated the handsome group 
seated in the upper and more honourable part of the hall. 
There, by the host and his family, all in clean shirts and black 
cloaks, with new coloured head-dresses and silver-hilted swords, 
sat the Na'ib making a very good figure in his Persian dress 
and large turban, while Aboo-'Eysa, who, to keep him com- 
pany, had exchanged the soiled garments of the road for better 
apparel, took his place close to the ambassador ; the attendants 
of the Na'ib ranged themselves on one side, and Barakat and 
I on the other. Many were the " Y'ahla" and "MarJiaba's" 
("welcome, honoured guests," &c.) and many too the Allah- 



Chap. VII] to Ri 'ad 209 

seasoned phrases indispensable in Wannabee conversation. Of 
course no smoking was allowed ; even the Na'ib could not 
venture on his Nargheelah. Aboo-'Eysa had taken a farewell 
whirl at his " cutty-pipe," before entering the village, and had 
advised me to do the same, remarking that "these dogs will 
hold us for infidels if we do it in their presence," and now 
looked as innocent of tobacco as an English damsel. Coffee 
was however plentiful, and very good. The conversation here 
and henceforth up to Ri'ad, whether in towns or villages, among 
high or low, ran mainly on two inexhaustible topics : the one, 
the excellencies and virtues of Feysul, withj>is certain triumph 
over the infidels of 'Oneyzah ; the other the wickedness and 
depravity of Zamil and his party, and their certain defeat and 
ruin. Then came "Allahu yensor el-Muslimeen," "may God 
give che victory to the Muslims;" "Allahu yensor Feysul," 
"may God give the victory to Feysul;" " W'elladee yusellimu 
Feysul," "by Him who protects Feysul;" "Allahu yesallit el- 
Muslimeen 'ala'l 'keffar," " may God give over the infidels to 
the power of the Muslims ;" and so on, till we began to say with 
Aboo-'Eysa, " KurTaroona b'il-Muslimeen," "they put us to our 
wits' end with their Muslims ;" and wished as heartily for their 
defeat as they did for that of their opponents. Of Feysul no 
one dared speak except in a subdued tone of reverence appli- 
cable to a demigod at the very moment of apotheosis ; of one 
whom to obey was the sure countersign of goodness, and to 
oppose, the most unpardonable impiety. 

These men in their hearts hold Egypt, Persia, Bagdad, Damas- 
cus, and, to sum up, all the world withoutside of Nejed, to be 
little better than dens of thieves and lairs of heresy and infi- 
delity. Yet scarcely will they have heard, in answer to the first 
customary demands of introduction, that their guest is from any 
one of the above-named places, than they will begin a eulogy of 
town, country, and people, as though they had been the objects 
of their lifelong admiration, and extol the learning, piety, and 
good fame of those whom they most disagree with, and against 
whom they are ready to draw the sword of Islam at a moment's 
notice; and this they will do in so perfectly quiet, easy, and 
natural a way, that it is difficult not to believe their words the 
faithful echo of their innermost thoughts ; nor need their guest, 
if gifted with ordinary prudence, fear any hint of disapproval 

P 



210 From Bcreydah [Chap, vii 

touching his own personal ways and deeds. " Eddyf ma 'akam 
melik," " the guest while in the house is its lord," is a trite saying 
with Nej deans, and expresses to the life the deference with 
which they treat whoever has once been received under their 
roof. Nor when the stranger walks the streets will anyone 
stare at him, much less stop to gaze ; nor will even the boys 
gather and laugh at him, nor will any whisper or aside remark 
be heard as he passes by. Perhaps foreigners do not come off 
so smoothly everywhere else. I ought to add that our own 
half-Syrian dress was hardly less outlandish and "furrener- 
looking" in Nejed than the long robe of a Lithuanian Jew or 
the furs of a Cossack in the streets of Norwich or Derby. The 
Persians appeared even more exotic. But Nej dean civility was 
above all such considerations. My readers must however recall 
to mind that Sedeyr surpasses in this respect the other provinces 
of Toweyk. Besides, I speak only of what passes between hosts 
and guests reciprocally received and acknowledged for such; 
with casual strangers and unauthenticated foreigners much less 
courtesy is used, occasionally none. 

The hospitality of Sedeyr is elegant and copious. After 
coffee and small talk in the K'hawah, we mounted to the upper 
storey, where we found a large room with an open verandah 
prepared for our more express reception, and fruits, melons and 
peaches to wit, piled up in large dishes, to employ our leisure 
moments till supper should be ready. Here we were supposed 
to make ourselves perfectly at home, and might even light the 
" pipe of peace," the scandal of publicity not being considered 
to affect these apartments thus set apart exclusively for our use. 
Our host and his kinsmen came in and out, always ready for 
talk or service, and we began from their conversation to collect 
much valuable information about the actual state and govern- 
ment of Nejed proper. 

Here Mohanna's men left us and returned home. No per- 
sonal danger was to be apprehended on the road by travellers 
like ourselves " fi wejh Feysul," " in the countenance of Feysul," 
or "under" it, to make the Arab phrase English; and besides, 
we were sure of being henceforth accompanied from village to 
village, and from town to town, by the inhabitants of the 
country itself; not indeed for security, but for honour. I need 
hardly say that the honour was mainly intended for the Na'ib 



Chap. VII] to RV ad 2 1 I 

and Aboo-'Eysa ; for us, throughout this stage of our itinerary, 
we attracted comparatively little attention, and this was indeed 
to be desired, though we had no lack of courteous and friendly 
treatment everywhere. 

Next morning early, when we mounted each his camel or 
dromedary, we found the chief, with some youths of his kin, 
already on horseback to escort us on our way. We followed for 
about half an hour the ascending course of the gorge, under the 
shade of forest trees — the plane was one, somewhat to my sur- 
prise — intermingled with palms, between whose foliage white 
glimpses of the overhanging cliff glittered^ to the morning light, 
till we arrived at the " 'Akabah," or ascent; 

Here we were at the cul-de-sac, or abrupt termination of the 
mountain cleft, and in front a narrow twisting path, like an 
uncoiled ribbon of white satin, reaching up several hundred 
feet to the table-land above, amid rocks and masses of lime 
and marl mingled with sandstone. A little water just oozing 
out at the base, like " Sibyl's well," showed the line taken by 
the stream after rain. Here ensued a contest of politeness, the 
chief insisting on accompanying us farther, and Aboo-'Eysa 
(for the Persians remained like mutes) on his returning home. 
After many pretty speeches on either side, our quondam host 
wished us all in general, and then every one in particular, good 
speed, and went back, while a few of his relatives continued for 
our escort. 

Soon we attained the great plateau, of which I have a few 
pages since given an anticipated description. And here for the 
first time since our passage of the Ghour, in the well-known 
desert between Gaza and Ma'an, we met with a clouded sky and 
a disturbed atmosphere. But my readers will recall to mind 
that it was now the 7th of October, and not be surprised at an 
autumn storm. The sky, hitherto perfectly clear, was suddenly, 
indeed almost instantaneously, overcast, and a furious gust of 
wind rushed down, while clouds of dust darkened the air, till 
we could hardly see our way. Next followed a few drops of 
rain, but the wind was too high to allow of a good shower, and 
in about half an hour the whole had blown over; however, the 
breeze which succeeded was delightfully cool, and worthy of the 
Apennines. 

About noon we halted in a brushwood covered plain, to light 

p 2 



212 From Bereydah [Chap, vii 

fire and prepare coffee. After which we pursued our easterly 
way, still a little to the north, now and then meeting with 
travellers or peasants ; but a European would find these roads 
very lonely in comparison with those of his own country. All 
the more did I admire the perfect submission and strict police 
enforced by the central government, so that even a casual rob- 
bery is very rare in the provinces, and highwaymen are totally 
out of the question. At last, near the same hour of afternoon 
that had brought us the day before to Ghat, we came in sight of 
Mejmaa', formerly capital of the province, and still a place of 
considerable importance, with a population, to judge by appear- 
ances and hearsay, of between ten and twelve thousand souls. 

The governor, 'Abd-el-Mahsin es' Sedeyree, gave us a splendid 
reception. His palace, once centre of Sedeyr, is large and lofty, 
and he had prepared our lodgings in an upper storey, the bal- 
conies of which commanded a noble view of the mountain 
steppes north and east, with the gardens and groves below in 
green masses at our feet. Here we rested that evening, not 
unlike yesterday's, except in the superior quality of the enter- 
tainment. Mohammed-' Alee wrote his journal by the gleam of 
a Persian lamp ; he was in the habit of noting down minutely 
all incidents day by day, and had compiled a very amusing 
work for light reading, and enough, were it translated and pub- 
lished, to throw mine, I fear, into the shade. It was composed 
in Persian, but the Na'ib sometimes favoured me with a recital, 
while he rendered it, for my ignorance, into bad Arabic or good 
Hindoostanee. 

Here the Na'ib's stock of tobacco began to run short, and he 
knew not whence to get a fresh supply, in a land where that 
plant is only known by the name of "el Mukzhee," or "the 
shameful," or by a still worse and wholly untranslatable denomi- 
nation, which would imply it to be the immediate production 
of the Evil One, but after a fashion that the fiery dryness of 
his Satanic complexion might seem to render hardly credible. 
Nevertheless, such is the belief of the Wahhabees, who steadily 
assert that the first tobacco-sprouts arose from this very singular 
and diabolical irrigation, whence a name not to be mentioned to 
ears polite. Who then could dream, I do not say of employing, 
but of trafficking in, or even of possessing, so infamous an 
article % However, throughout the world, and by consequence 



Chap. VII] to RV ad 2 I 3 

in Nejed too, no law but is violated, and no customs regulation 
but suffers from contraband. In this hope, founded on the 
weakness of human nature, Hoseyn, the servant of the Na'ib, 
went a hunting, money in hand, amid the warehouses of Mejmaa', 
and excited immense disgust by his public enquiries after the 
" shameful \ " but his first efforts met with no success. At last 
he applied to Aboo-'Eysa, whose experience of the land had 
taught him facts and manoeuvres beyond the attainment of a 
raw thick-witted Bagdadee. Our friend had often been in pre- 
cisely the same predicament wherein the Na'ib now lay, but 
knew much better where and how to distinguish between the 
real and the apparent, and under what veils private practice 
might contravene public observance. In fact, the number of 
smokers in Nejed is nowise small, and includes many a name 
of high birth and strict outside profession. Furnished with the 
requisite sum, Aboo-'Eysa set out on a quieter but a more 
effectual search, and soon reappeared with a bag containing two 
good pounds avoirdupois of the Satanic leaf, which he handed 
over to the Na'ib, after deducting a well-earned perquisite in 
kind, shared between him and ourselves. 

We were up early next morning, for the night air was brisk, 
and a few hours of sleep had sufficed us. The whole level of 
the depression where Mejmaa' stands almost equals that of the 
surface of the first plateau, and to this now succeeded a second 
of yet greater height, forming part of the midrib of Toweyk. 
We took the high ground as the shorter route, instead of 
keeping to the lower steppe, and went on with a wide land- 
scape on either side, but not in front, where at some distance 
to the east a third and loftier ledge arose to shut out the distant 
view. 

After sunrise we came on a phenomenon of a nature, I be 
lieve, without a second or a parallel in Central Arabia, yet withal 
most welcome, namely, a tolerably large source of running 
water, forming a wide and deepish stream, with grassy banks, 
and frogs croaking in the herbage. We opened our eyes in 
amazement ; it was the first of the kind that we had beheld 
since leaving the valley of Djowf. But though a living, it is a 
short-lived rivulet, reaching only four or five hours' distance to 
Djelajil, where it is lost amid the plantations of the suburbs. 

After passing between the towns of Djelajil and Rowdah, 



m 



2 14 From Bereydah [Chap, vii 

names to be translated "bells" and "garden," at last we en- 
tered in between the heights of the uppermost plateau ; they 
rose here and there like huge flat-topped towers or wide plat- 
forms on either side, leaving, however, large openings betwixt, 
and pasture plains of great extent. While crossing one of these, 
we met a numerous band of the Meteyr Bedouins, once masters 
and tyrants of North-eastern Nejed, now, like their brother 
nomades, humble subjects of Wahhabee rule. They are com- 
paratively rich in herds and flocks, and range over a wide 
extent of territory ; indeed we shall a few chapters later meet 
with a colony of them on the other side of the Persian Gulf. 
This was the only considerable body of Bedouins that we saw 
from Ha'yel to Ri'ad, nor did I witness any other throughout 
Nejed, Hasa, and 'Oman. 

We had not long traversed the Meteyr encampment, when we 
came in view of the walls of Toweym, a large town, containing 
between twelve and fifteen thousand inhabitants, according to 
the computation here in use, and which I follow for want of 
better. It is less advantageously situated for irrigation than 
Mejmaa', and decidedly colder in climate, being high perched 
at the level, not of the first, but of the second plateau, and 
surrounded by irregular piles of the third and loftiest range, 
though at some little distance. The governor (I forget his 
name) showed himself by no means sociable. Aboo-'Eysa and 
myself rode for some time up and down the narrow streets of 
the town, looking for a subordinate to announce our arrival to 
his excellency, and finding none ; and when at last the message 
was delivered, hospitality was slow in forthcoming ; the palace 
door remained shut, and the governor was evidently loth to 
introduce us into the interior; whether he feared our seeing its 
nakedness or its plenty I cannot tell. Ultimately he distri- 
buted us for lodging amid the dwellings of his attendants : the 
Na'ib and his suite were in one of those subordinate K'hawahs, 
ourselves in another, the Meccans in a third ; Aboo-'Eysa went 
and came between. Our vicarious host was a coarse, good- 
humoured man of arms, and treated us well. But the lane 
where his house stood was close and narrow, and the air op- 
pressive; so, after taking coffee and eating a few dates of the 
long-shaped yellow variety almost peculiar to Nejed, Barakat 
and I sauntered out to see the town. 



Chap. VII] toRi'ad 215 

The houses are here built compactly, of two storeys in 
general, sometimes three ; the lower rooms are often fifteen or 
sixteen feet high, and the upper ten or twelve; while the 
roof itself is frequently surrounded by a blind wall of six feet 
or more, till the whole attains a fair altitude, and is not alto- 
gether unimposing. Little or no attempt is, however, made at 
domestic ornament, and hardly any symmetry is observed be- 
tween house and house except what mere chance circumstances 
may have determined. The streets are narrow and tortuous — 
mere lanes the most; and a committee for city ventilation would 
do no harm. I need not say that in this unrainy climate the 
roads are very seldom paved, nor indeed-xneed to be, save in 
some limited instances. 

The market-place of Toweym is unusually large, a very 
respectable square, and by an arrangement of rare occurrence 
situated close to the inner side of the town walls, not in the 
centre of the city. Here are several shops and warehouses, and 
a large mosque; but the want of minarets and cupolas deprives 
religious constructions in Nejed of the outward advantages of 
appearance they possess elsewhere; the Mesjid (literally, "pro- 
stration place") of Toweym resembled a large railway station 
more than anything else, but differed from such in having no 
refreshment room, unless, indeed, the side-building destined for 
cold-water ablution might merit that title. The town gates are 
strong for the country, guarded by day and shut by night; the 
walls in tolerably good repair, and surrounded with a deep 
outer trench, but no water. 

As sunset approached, we went out of the town to look at 
the fields and groves ; the soil hereabouts is good, but water is 
scarce; however, the dates are excellent. While we sat on a 
little hillock commanding the road, we had plenty of opportu- 
nity for conversation with the numerous passers-by, in and out 
of the town, for villages are thickly clustered on all sides ; it 
is, by Arabian standard, a populous land. At nightfall we 
returned home to our supper, sent from the governor's palace ; 
it was neither very good nor very bad; the bread was leavened, 
as we found it henceforth to the Persian Gulf — a great improve- 
ment on the unleavened cakes of Shomer and Kaseem, though 
in I^aseem too the passage of the Persian pilgrims tends to 
set up a new and better custom. Lastly, a quiet pipe on the 



2i6 From Bereydah [Chap, vii 

roof under the bright stars, and then to rest, but in-doors, for 
it was too cold for open air sleeping. It is a great blessing in 
Arabia that neither gnats nor mosquitoes, nor a certain salta- 
tory insect yery common in Southern Europe and in Syria 
( " letters iour do form its name") are here known. The 
absence .ifiso of flies, great and small, horse and house, is as- 
tonishing ; I know of no other country in the world so totally 
devoid of that most familiar and often importunate little crea- 
ture. Would one could say the same of another familiar beast, 
which signifies love, at least in Welsh heraldry ! Snakes in 
Nejed are no less rare than in Ireland or Malta. In an elegant 
romance published by M. Lamartine under the title of the 
"Journal of Fath- Allah Sey'yir," companion of the ill-fated 
Lascaris, a work already alluded to, these reptiles are spoken of 
as very common in Central Arabia; nay, appalling to think of, 
M. Lamartine's hero discovers a whole thicket full of their 
sloughs, of all colours and sizes — a sort of serpent's cloak- 
room, I suppose. Happy the travellers who possess so rich and 
so inventive an imagination ! a few boa-constrictors make no 
bad variety, at least' in a narrative. But I was not favoured 
with any such visions, "no! vidi, ne credo che sia." 

Early next day we took leave of our unsociable host, who, 
however, did us the honour of stepping down to his palace gate 
and seeing us off in person. At a short distance from Toweym 
we passed another large village with battlemented walls, and 
on the opposite side of the read a square castle, looking very 
mediaeval ; this was Hafr. A couple of hours farther on we 
reached Thomeyr, a straggling townlet, more abounding in 
broken walls than houses ; close by was a tall white rock 
crowned by the picturesque remains of an old outwork or fort, 
overlooking the place. Here our party halted for breakfast in 
the shadow of the ruins. Barakat and myself determined to 
try our fortune in the village itself ; no guards appeared at its 
open gate, we entered unchallenged, and roamed through silent 
lanes and heaps of rubbish, vainly seeking news of milk and 
dates in this city of the dead. At last we met a meagre towns- 
man, in look and apparel the apothecary of Romeo; and of him, 
not without misgivings of heart, we enquired where aught eat- 
able could be had for love or money. He apologized, though 
there was scarce need of that, for not having any such article 



Chap. VII] to Ri'dd 21J 

at his disposal; "but," added he, " in such and such a house 
there will certainly be something good," and thitherwards he 
preceded us in our search. We found indeed a large dwelling, 
but the door was shut; we knocked to no purpose; nobody at 
home. Our man now set us a bolder example, and we all 
together scrambled through a breach in the mud wall, and found 
ourselves amid empty rooms and a desolate courtyard. "Every- 
body is out in the fields, women only excepted," said our guide, 
and we separated no better off than before. Despairing of the 
village commissariat, we climbed a turret on the outer walls, 
and looked round. Now we saw at some distance a beautiful 
palm-grove, where we concluded that date^ could not be want- 
ing, and off we set for it across the stubble-fields. But on 
arriving we found our paradise surrounded by high walls, and 
no gate discoverable. While thus we stood without, like Milton's 
fiend at Eden, but unable, like him, " by one high bound to over- 
leap all bound," up came a handsome Solibah lad, all in rags, 
half walking, half dancing, in the devil-may-care way of his tribe. 
" Can you tell us which is the way in ? " was our first question, 
pointing to the garden before us; and, "Shall I sing you a song?" 
was his first answer. "We don't want your songs, but dates : 
how are we to get at them 1 " we replied. " Or shall I perform 
you a dance?" answered the grinning young scoundrel, and forth- 
with began an Arabian polka-step, laughing all the while at our 
undisguised impatience. At last he condescended to show us 
the way, but no other than what befitted an orchard-robbing 
boy, like himself, for it lay a little farther off, right over the wall, 
which he scaled with practised ingenuity, and helped us to fol- 
low. So we did, though perhaps with honester intentions, and, 
once within, stood amid trees, shade, and water. The " tender 
juvenile " then set up a shout, and" soon a man appeared, "old 
Adam's likeness set to dress this garden," save that he was not 
old but young, as Adam might himself have been while yet in 
Eden. We were somewhat afraid of a surly reception, too well 
merited by our very equivocal introduction ; but the gardener 
was better tempered than manyif his caste, and after saluting 
us very politely, offered his services at our disposal. On learning 
that we were from Damascus, ^ie grew positively friendly, led 
us through an umbrageous alley to a little lodge or watch-hut 
in the enclosure, and there presented us to a cousin of his, who 



4 



2 1 8 From Bereydak tchap. vii 

also said he had been to "Sham," or Damascus. But "Sham" 
has in Nejed as loose an application as Nejed has in Sham, and 
we found ere long that our new acquaintance had never really- 
overpassed the limits of Arabia; he had only gone some way on 
the northern pilgrim road towards Tabook and its neighbour- 
hood ; however, this was enough to make him a lion in his 
village, and he was a great authority about Damascus, though 
he had stopped short at a full fortnight's distance from its gates. 
We made friends, and a very tolerable extemporary breakfast 
of curds and dates, with clear cold water, such as our hearts 
desired, was set before us. The young Solibah had gone fruit- 
hunting on his own account. We then proposed to purchase a 
stock of dates for our onward way, whereon the gardener con- 
ducted us to an outhouse where heaps of three or four kinds 
of this fruit, red and yellow, round or long, lay piled up, and 
bade us choose. At his recommendation we filled a large cloth 
which we had brought with us for the purpose with excellent 
ruddy -dates, and gave in return a small piece of money, wel- 
come here as elsewhere. We then took leave and returned, 
but this time through the garden gate, to the stubble-fields, 
and passing under the broken walls of the village, reached our 
companions, who had become anxious at our absence. 

Leaving Thomeyr, we climbed the highest shelf of Central 
Toweyk, and traversed its bare upper ledge or table-land ; the 
view all around was splendid, and forced the admiration of the 
Na'ib himself, though little disposed to praise anything in Nejed. 
Only to the east lofty mountain-lines limited the prospect; south, 
west, and north, plateau and plain lay below in a bird's-eye land- 
scape of immense extent. This district comprises, to the best of 
my observation, the most elevated point of Inner Arabia, which 
I should place at about fifteen or twenty miles south-east of Tho- 
meyr. The pass through which our road lay is called "Thenee- 
yat-'Atalah," that is, " the barren," though often simply known 
by the autonomastic designation of " Eth-Theneeyah," or " the 
pass " par excellence, because the highest in the land. The easterly 
mountain is "Djebel 7 Atalah" itself, berhymed in Arab song. 

Our path, a very stony one, led for three or four hours along 
the ridge; nor was it till late in the afternoon that we began to 
descend a very steep and slippery track, amid marl and grey- 
stone intermixed, till step by step we reached the lower level, 



Chap. VII] to RV dd 2K) 

the same on which we had travelled the day before. All were 
heartily tired; the camels after so prolonged a march laboured 
heavily in their tread, and the Na'ib gave vent to his ill-temper 
by a furious quarrel with his men ; the occasion was a pome- 
granate which he had eaten alone without offering them a 
share: hinc ir<z et lacrymcE. I mention this for a sample of many 
similar squalls that ruffled the placidity of the Shiya'ee band. 
But it is only justice to say that Mohammed-' Alee's better 
mood soon returned, and he was then heartily ashamed of his 
own past indecorum. 

Amid such alternations within and wijhp'ut, we were in all 
cases obliged to push smartly on if we wisned to reach in time 
Sadik, our destined night's halt. And at last we caught a 
glimpse of it amid uneven ground, just after threading a pretty 
knot of small hills, where couching gazelles started up on our 
approach and ran away; but evening was now far advanced, nor 
did we come under the walls till dark. A clean sandy space, 
hard by a well, and sheltered around by lofty palm-trees, 
afforded us a halting place. Here all alighted, while Aboo-'Eysa 
alone entered the town to give its governor notice of our arrival. 
He very courteously invited us, great and small, to his residence, 
despite the lateness of the hour. But the Na'ib, dead tired, 
refused to rise from his carpets where he had flung him down ; 
the sand was soft, and the night air not over cold. Accordingly 
the governor sent us out where we were a supply of meat, 
c urds. honey T melons, and Jarea^ enough for a good supper, to 
which the Arabs added coffee and the Persians tea. Somewhere 
about midnight we made a hearty meal by the light of our 
fires, and bivouacked beside them. 

Aboo-'Eysa knew, though he would not say, that next day's 
march was almost equal in length to the preceding one. In 
spite of all remonstrances from the jaded travellers, he put us 
by dawn in movement, and we left Sadik without having seen 
the inside of its walls. We had not gone far on our way when 
the chiefs own brother, in a handsome red dress, and accom- 
panied by some swordsmen of his train, rode after us to beg us 
to retrace our steps and honour his abode by partaking therein 
of an early dinner. But want of leisure rendered this impos- 
sible ; so we thanked him for his offer, and he returned, after 
smoking a furtive pipe with Barakat and myself. 



220 From Bereydah ichap. vii 

The road now wound between shrubs and bushes, where 
hares and partridges abounded ; the Na'ib had slung to his 
saddle a good double-barrelled English fowling-piece, brought 
from India; but though he talked much and big about his gun 
and his sporting achievements, we could nohow persuade him 
to make use of it on this or any other occasion, whence my 
readers will, I fear, draw the same inference that we did, namely, 
that he was no great shot. A hare now crossed our path, and 
gave rise to a fierce dispute between the Sonnees and Shiya'ees 
of our party, touching the lawfulness of eating hare's flesh. 
The Sonnees, at least those of the Hanbalee sect, to which all 
Nej deans belong, whether Wahhabees or not, hold swine's flesh 
alone to be forbidden them ; but the Shiya'ees have a prohibitory 
list of almost or quite as many articles as the Jews themselves, and 
among these puss is included. The controversy ran high, and 
nothing was wanting to bring it to a matter-of-fact issue except 
the essential article of a certain well-known receipt, " first catch 
your hare ;" but the Na'ib's backwardness in fulfilling that, left 
matters at the degree of theory only, much to Barakat's regret 
and mine, a feeling wherein our Nej dean companions heartily 
sympathized. 

Issuing from the Arcadian labyrinth of rock and shrubbery, 
we came before noon on an open plain, and had on our right 
hand the town of IJoolah, a large and busy locality; the size 
and outline of its towered walls reminded me of Conway Castle, 
but the construction differs, being here almost wholly of sun- 
dried bricks, with little stone, and that unhewn. This town, 
men say, is one of the most flourishing in Sedeyr ; perhaps its 
comparative proximity to Shakra and the Woshem road con- 
tributes to its prosperity. The inhabitants are not only active 
traders but diligent agriculturists, and the country around is 
planted and tilled to a notable distance. 

We left behind us many other villages and hamlets of less 
note, near and far, till after a few hours of very pretty road 
over the undulations of the plateau, now mounting, now de- 
scending its whitened ledges, we reached at sunset the town of 
Horeymelah, where we were to pass the evening. 

This town, the birthplace of the well-known Mohammed- 
ebn-'Abd-el-Wahhab, founder and name-giver of the sect now 
dominant throughout nearly half Arabia, forms the northerly 



Chap. VII] to RV ad 221 

wicket-gate or key to the central stronghold of Nejed, guarded 
in like fashion by Shakra to the west, Kharfah to the south, 
and the defile of Wadi Soley' to the east; four localities that 
occupy the corresponding entrances to the famous valley once 
Wadi Moseylemah, now by name Wadi Haneefah, in whose 
deep labyrinth lies the capital, and the very heart of Nejed. 
Horeymelah is situated almost on the boundary line between 
'Aared and Sedeyr, but belongs to the latter. It blocks up 
the funnel-like end of the gorge through which we had been 
travelling half the day, with just enough open space around for 
the customary plantation-halo of a Nejdean town; the outer 
fortifications are, as beseems the position^ remarkably strong, 
and the population about ten thousand in number. What 
most surprised me on our first entrance here, was the view 
of a large castle, placed on a rising ground within the town 
itself, and announcing in its symmetrical construction a degree 
of architectural and defensive science unusual in these coun- 
tries. My wonder was however lessened on learning that this 
fortress was the work of Ibraheem Bacha, erected during the 
Egyptian occupation of Nejed subsequent to the fall of 
Derey'eeyah. Young though Ibraheem then was, his fertile 
mind had already conceived the system which in after years 
covered Syria and the north with monuments of his prodigious 
energy, and of his consummate skill in everywhere selecting 
for his strategic constructions precisely the points best at once 
for securing subjection and barring invasion. The castle of 
Horeymelah was the first of Ibraheem's strong posts that I saw 
in Nejed, but we met with more farther on; and I was told 
that other like works of his yet exist in Woshem and on the 
skirts of Kaseem, but my line of route did not permit me to 
visit them. 

Betah, a native of the town and a zealous Wahhabee, heart 
and soul devoted to the interests of the Sa'ood family, was 
governor here. He was of good parentage, and not deficient 
in the kind of education peculiar to his country and sect; he 
received us very courteously, and introduced us without delay 
into his spacious abode within the castle. But the evening was 
warm, almost close, and after a few minutes of ceremony 
in the K'hawah, we unanimously voted for the open air. 
Carpets were accordingly spread and cushions arranged on the 



222 From Bereydah [Chap, vii 

large flat roof above the second storey, and thither we mounted 
by a flight of stone steps, ill-lighted, and particularly fit to break 
the necks' of those who should venture on them at night time. 
On one side of the roof a third storey rose higher still, and the 
parapet against which we reclined our weary backs overhung 
the central market-place of the town. 

Our evening party lasted on far into the starry night; the 
Persian Na'ib and his satellites retired to rest, while Aboo-'Eysa 
and ourselves remained to listen to the fire-eating discourses of 
Betah, and lead him on from tale to tale. Like most Nej deans, 
he added innate eloquence of diction to grammatical purity of 
language ; and Barakat was here, as often elsewhere during our 
journey, compelled to admit that neither at Zahleh nor at 
Damascus is the spoken dialect, even amongst the best educated 
and the most pretentious, worthy the name of Arabic if com- 
pared to the diction of Nejed. 

Next morning we resumed our route, accompanied by Betah's 
men, who were charged to escort us to the frontiers of the pro- 
vince. These were not distant, and long before noon we entered 
on a white and marly plain, an expansion of the gorge up 
which we had come, and saw before us the little town of Sedoos, 
the northern limit of 'Aared, and scene of several skirmishes 
during the Egyptian war. We here left the lower grounds, 
with their broad but circuitous route, to follow a straight cut 
across the mountain, whose ledge we climbed (so steep that 
the camels had much ado to master it), and reached a table- 
land of considerable elevation, yet well provided with grass and 
trees. The horizon was still bounded on the east by Toweyk 
itself; south and west it was comparatively open. Our day's 
march was long, and we pushed on briskly and silently, till 
in the late afternoon we halted under a pretty grove, lighted 
our fires, and partook of what food ordinary Arab travellers 
have leisure or means to prepare. When we moved off once 
more evening was at hand, but before sunset we attained 
the extreme southerly verge of the heights, and skirted them 
for half an hour on a narrow path, having the depths of 
Wadi Haneefah immediately below. Then came a long and 
difficult descent into the valley, where, at the precipice foot, 
an overhanging rock sheltered a large deep pool of clear water, 
of which we all gladly drank, for the day had been hot, and 



Chap, vii] io RV ad 223 

since leaving Sedoos we had not met with either well or 
fountain. 

Now we threaded the valley in a south-westerly direction. 
The first shades of nightfall were closing in, when we found 
ourselves among the vestiges of 'Eyanah. For half a league or 
more the ground was intersected by broken walls, and heaps 
once towers and palaces, amid headless palm-trees, ranges of 
ithel marking where gardens had been, dry wells, and cisterns 
choked with dust. Not a living soul appeared as we wound 
through lines of rubbish that indicated where streets had been, 
and passed the lone market-gate, yet standing, and open on 
emptiness. It is a curious fact that Ibrahegm Basha, struck by 
the advantageous position of the town, and perhaps not un- 
willing to establish a permanent counterpoise to the influence 
of Derey'eeyah by the revival of old animosities, endeavoured 
in his day to rebuild and repeople this locality, cleared out the 
old wells and sunk new ones, brought artisans and mechanicians 
to the work ; but all in vain, and he was obliged to abandon 
the now waterless and hopeless site to abiding desolation. 

Wadi Haneefah is hereabouts a good league in breadth, and 
full of trees and brushwood, while its precipitous sides are 
caverned out into countless recesses for the wolf and hyaena; 
deer abound also, and we saw the latter, besides hearing the 
growl of the ruder animals. To avoid the windings of the main 
valley, we left it shortly after getting clear of 'Eyanah, and pro- 
ceeded on a small cross-branch leading due south, not without 
some danger of losing our way in the darkness, till ultimately 
the whole caravan, Persians, Arabs, and the one European also, 
fairly tired out with floundering amid sands, rocks, thorns, and 
ithel, insisted on a halt. Aboo-'Eysa, the most indefatigable of 
guides, and scarcely inclined to make allowance in others for a 
weariness which he never appeared himself to feel, was com- 
pelled, though after much expostulation, to consent to our just 
request. We lighted fires, a practical hint to all our neighbours 
of claw and tooth not to approach too near, and lay down to sleep. 

The relentless Aboo-'Eysa availed himself of a simulated 
mistake between the rising moon and the dawn of morning to 
rouse us from rest two or three hours before day. Once up, we 
consented to continue our march, and soon regained the Wadi 
Haneefah close by the little village of Rowdah. Here in the 



£24 From Bereydah [Chap.vii 

first century of Islam was laid the scene of the great battle 
between Khalid-ebn-Waleed, the " Sword of the Faith," and 
Moseylemah the false prophet of Nejed, and here the death of 
the latter ensured the triumph of Mahometanism throughout 
Arabia. 

In the early grey of morning we passed close under the 
plantations of Rowdah down the valley, now dry and still, once 
overflowed with the best blood of Arabia, and through the 
narrow and high-walled pass which gives entrance to the great 
strongholds of the land. The sun rose and lighted up to our 
view wild precipices on either sid|(f with a tangled mass of 
broken rock and brushwood belojjf while coveys of partridges 
started up at our feet, and deer jpampered away by the gorges 
to right or left, or a cloud of djpst announced the approach of 
peasant bands or horsemen jping to and fro, and gardens or 
hamlets gleamed through si^e-openings or stood niched in the 
bulging passes of the Wadjntself, till before noon we arrived at 
the little hamlet of Malka v , or "the junction." 

Its name is derived from its position. Here the valley divides 
in form of a Y, sending off two branches — one southerly to 
Derey'eeyah, the other south-east-by-east through the centre of 
the province, and communicating with the actual capital, Ri'ad. 
At the point of bipartition stands what would in India be called 
a bungalow, and in Syria a khan — namely, a sort of open house 
for the accommodation and rest of travellers; close by is a large 
well, and a garden, the property of the heir-apparent 'Abd- 
Allah. The broad foliage of fig-trees and citrons overhangs the 
road, and invites to repose. We rested the hours of noon, 
partly in the guest-house and partly in the garden, while the 
Na'ib availed himself of the seasonable leisure to dye with 
fresh henna his beard and moustache, whose whitening under- 
growth threatened to belie the artificial youth of their tips. He 
flattered himself with the prospect cf a speedy audience from 
the Wahhabee monarch, and was fain to muster all the advan- 
tages of personal appearance by way of a supplement to diplo- 
matic importance. Delusive hopes ! vain endeavours ! but 
meanwhile let him blacken his grey hairs and give sixty the 
semblance of thirty-five ; it certainly improves his looks. 

Aboo-'Eysa had meditated bringing us on that very evening 
to Ri'ad. But eight good leagues remained from Malka to the 



Chap. VII] to RV dd 225 

capital; and when the Na'ib had terminated his cosmetic opera- 
tions, the easterly-turning shadows left us no hope of attaining 
Ri'ad before nightfall. However, we resumed our march, and 
took the arm of the valley leading to Derey'eeyah; but before 
reaching it we once more quitted the Wadi, and followed a 
shorter path by the highlands to the left. Our way was next 
crossed by a long range of towers, built by Ibraheem Basha 
as outposts for the defence of this important position. Within 
their line stood the lonely walls of a large square barrack ; the 
towers were what we sometimes call Martello — short, large, 
and round. The level rays of the setting sun now streamed 
across the plain, and we came on the tuins of Derey'eeyah, 
filling up the whole breadth of the valley beneath. The palace 
walls, of unbaked brick, like the rest, rose close under the left 
or northern edge, but unroofed and tenantless ; a little lower 
down a wide extent of fragments showed where the immense 
mosque had been, and hard by, the market-place ; a tower on 
an isolated height was, I suppose, the original dwelling-place 
of the Sa'ood family while yet mere local chieftains, before 
growing greatness transferred them to their imperial palace. 
The outer fortifications remained almost uninjured for much of 
their extent, with turrets and bastions reddening in the western 
light; in other places the Egyptian artillery or the process of 
years had levelled them with the earch ; within the town many 
houses were yet standing, but uninhabited ; and the lines of 
the streets from gate to gate were distinct as in a ground-plan. 
From the great size of the town (for it is full half a mile in 
length, and not much less in breadth), and from the close 
packing of the houses, I should estimate its capacity at above 
forty thousand indwellers. The gardens lie without, and still 
"living waved where man had ceased to live," in full beauty 
and luxuriance, a deep green ring around the grey ruins. For 
although the Nej deans, holding it for an ill omen to rebuild 
and reinhabit a town so fatally overthrown, have transplanted 
the seat of government, and with it the bulk of city population, 
to Ri'ad, they have not deemed it equally necessary to abandon 
the rich plantations and well-watered fields belonging to the old 
capital; and thus a small colony of gardeners, in scattered huts 
and village dwellings close under the walls, protract the blighted 
existence of Derey'eeyah. 

Q 



226 From Bereydah to RVad [Chap, vii 

While from our commanding elevation we gazed thoughtfully 
on this scene, so full of remembrances, the sun set, and darkness 
grew on. We naturally proposed a halt ; but Aboo-'Eysa turned 
a deaf ear, and affirmed that a garden belonging to 'Abd-er- 
Rahman, already mentioned as grandson of the first Wahhabee, 
was but a little farther before us, and better adapted to our 
night's rest than the ruins. In truth, three hours of brisk 
travelling yet intervened between Derey'eeyah and the place in 
question ; but our guide was unwilling to enter Derey'eeyah in 
company of Persians and Syrians, Shiya'ees and Christians ; and 
this he afterwards confessed to me. For whether from one of 
those curious local influences which outlast even the change of 
races, and give one abiding colour to the successive tenants of 
the same spot, or whether it be occasioned by the constant view 
of their fallen greatness and the triumph of their enemies, the 
scanty population of Perey'eeyah comprises some of the bitterest 
and most bigoted fanatics that even 'Aared can offer. Accord- 
ingly we moved on, still keeping to the heights, and late at 
night descended a little hollow, where amid an extensive garden 
stood the country villa of 'Abd-er-Rahman. 

We did not attempt to enter the house ; indeed, at such an 
hour no one was stirring to receive us. But a shed in the 
garden close by sufficed for travellers who were all too. weary to 
desire aught but sleep ; and this we soon found in spite of dogs 
and jackals, numerous here and throughout Nejed. 

From this locality to the capital was about four miles' distance. 
Our party divided next morning : the Na'ib and his associates 
remaining behind, while Barakat and myself, with Aboo-'Eysa, 
get off straight for the town, where our guide was to give notice 
at the palace of the approach of the Persian dignitary, that the 
honours due to his reception might meet him half-way, At our 
request the Meccans stayed also in the rear; we did not desire 
the equivocal effect of their company on a first appearance. 

For about an hour we proceeded southward, through barren 
and undulating ground, unable to see over the country to any 
distance. At last we attained a rising eminence, and crossing 
it, came at once in full view of Ri'ad, the main object of our 
long journey — the capital of Nejed and half Arabia, its very 
heart of hearts. 



( 



H / a h a r o u n a 




1 Crectf, Square & Market TI ace 
2. Btlace ct' Rysul 
3 Covered faUery on. ooituruts 
4. Mosque 

5 Palace o/' fyeiowee, 
6. RUare of'Abd AUatX 



7. Market,, Butcihjer 
S.ffouse oflbde/.K 

9 Bowse of SoweyUm 

10 Mouse ot ' Jbd el 1 

11 (garter of tfe Me. 
12. Quart*/ of' Khd,n 



Lojadon^C. 



22/ 



CHAPTER VIII 
Ri'ad 



As when a scout 
Through dark and secret ways with peril gone 
All night, at last by break of cheerful dawn 
Obtains the brow of some high-climbing hill, 
Which to his eye discovers unawares 
The goodly prospect of some foreign land 
First seen, or some renowned metropolis. 

Milton 

A View of Ri'ad and its Neighbourhood — A Meeting — Cemetery — Entrance of 
the Town — Market-place — Halt at the Palace — ' Abd-eP Azeez, his Office 
and Character — Interior of the Palace — Its Architecture, Size, and Ar- 
rangements — The Ifhawah — Dinner — The Reception of tJw Na'ib — His 
Disgust — Our lodgings in the Palace of Djelod'wee — Effect of our Arrival 
onFeysul — His Retreat out of Town — R? ad Spies — 'Abd-el-Ifameed the 
Peshawuree — His History, Character, and Conversation — : Abbood the 
Meddefyee — Cholera in Nejed — Institution of the " Zelators" — Their 
System — Power — Its Results at RVad, in Nejed, and in the Provinces — 
Present Position of the Zelators — Reaction — 'Abbood and his Conversation 
— Offer made by ' "Abd-el- Azeez — Our Refusal — Interview of Aboo-Eysa 
with Feysul — Our Difficulties — Bribing the Government — Our New 
Dwelling near the NaHb — Coffee — Its Qualities and Trade — Our Life at 
RVad — A Visit to the Market-place — Mixed Populations — Sketches — Four 
Divisions of the Town — Great Square and Djamid 1 — Walls of the Town 
— Gardens — Climate — Sheep, Cattle, Game — The Negro Population, why 
numerous here — Negro Emancipation — The Khodeyreeyah — Their Social 
Position — Population of Nejed — Benoo-Remeem — Their Peculiar Character 
— Decline of Commerce — Agriculture — Warlike Impulse — Reflections — 
Language of Nejed — The Two great Arab Dialects — Their Origin and 
Difference — Remarks. 

Before us stretched a wild open valley, and in its foreground, 
immediately below the pebbly slope on whose summit we 
stood, lay the capital, large and square, crowned by high 
towers and strong walls of defence, a mass of roofs and ter- 

Q2 



PLAN ©i RIAD, 







& 



/ 



w 

' Creed Square & Market. Thee. 
'■ Bttave ot ' ftysul 

Covered faltery m coiumns 

i Pa face- of fyeiawee. 
• Mare of Abd Allah. 





Garden* 




e 


* /; a 


h 


7 M*sk*. 


fiu/dijB-* .\hopx 




S House o 


r JM e/ Kerr or 1 




3 House 0/ 'SowevUm 




10 Mxose 01 


Jbdel /.eutaf 




n Quantr 


(it ffo Meddey eeyou 




12 Quarcr, 


01 Khitd. 





15 Abuse oi' a pat/vr/ (fuz/ed 
Pf House of Mohammed 6rvthe>- ofj^bd 

16 Bdac* of a cousin, of' Fq/suis 
fS Serond quarter of die /bww 
P Our own. d#euUn# 

f8 fhruupal ^ale- 



1.9 28 ofAef oatts 

29. Pat-zee oztarter 

30. Garden, of Abd rj- J?aftmA/i 

31 Cemetery 

32 RoyaJ. StaMes 

33. 34 Carde/ts belonging to (Ae 



228 RVad [Chap. VIII 

races, where overtopping all frowned the huge but Irregular 
pile of Feysul's royal castle, and hard by it rose the scarce 
less conspicuous palace, built and inhabited by his eldest son, 
'Abd-Allah. Other edifices too of remarkable appearance broke 
here and there through the maze of grey roof-tops, but their 
object and indwellers were yet to learn. All around for full 
three miles over the surrounding plain, but more especially to 
the west and south, waved a sea of palm-trees above green 
fields and well-watered gardens ; while the singing droning 
sound of the water-wheels reached us even where we had 
halted, at a quarter of a mile or more from the nearest town- 
walls. On the opposite side southwards, the valley opened 
out into the great and even more fertile plains of Yemamah, 
thickly dotted with groves and villages, among which the large 
town of Manfoohah, hardly inferior in size to Ri'ad itself, might 
be clearly distinguished. Farther in the background ranged 
the blue hills, the ragged sierra of Yemamah, compared some 
thirteen hundred years since, by 'Amroo-ebn-Kelthoom the 
Shomerite, to drawn swords in battle array; and behind them 
w r as concealed the immeasurable Desert of the South, or Dahna. 
On the west the valley closes in and narrows in its upward 
windings towards Derey'eeyah, while to the south-west the low 
mounds of Aflaj are the division between it and Wadi Dowasir. 
Due east in the distance a long blue line marks the farthest 
heights of Toweyk, and shuts out from view the low ground of 
IJasa and the shores of the Persian Gulf. In all the countries 
which I have visited, and they are many, seldom has it been 
mine to survey a landscape equal to this in. beauty and in 
historical meaning, rich and full alike to eye and mind. 
But should any of my readers have ever approached Damascus 
from the side of the Anti-Lebanon, and surveyed the Ghootah 
from the heights above Mazzeh, they may thence form an 
approximate idea of the valley of Ri'ad when viewed from the 
north. Only this is wider and more varied, and the circle of 
vision here embraces vaster plains and bolder mountains ; while 
the mixture of tropical aridity and luxuriant verdure, of crowded 
population andp desert tracks, is one that Arabia alone fsax 
present, and im comparison with which Syria seems tame, Ind 
Italy monotonous. 

A light morning mist, the first we had witnessed for many 



Chap, viii] The Capital of Nejed 229 

days, hung over the town, and bespoke the copious moisture of 
its gardens. But the hot sun soon dissipated the thin and 
transient veil; whilst the sensible increase of heat indicated 
a region not only more southerly in latitude than that hitherto 
traversed, but also exposed to the burning winds of the neigh- 
bouring desert, that lies beyond the inner verge of Yemamah, 
like one vast furnace, up to the very shores of the Indian Ocean. 
Barakat and myself stopped our dromedaries a few minutes 
on the height, to study and enjoy this noble prospect, and to 
forget the anxiety inseparable from a first approach to the 
lion's own den. Aboo-'Eysa too, though not unacquainted with 
the scene, willingly paused with us to ptriht out and name the 
main features of the view, and show us where lay the onward 
road to his home in Hasa. We then descended the slope and 
skirted the walls of the first outlying plantations which gird 
the town. Here more than one whom we met saluted our 
guide in the friendly tone of an old acquaintance ; but above 
all, a lad whom Aboo-'Eysa had picked up some years before ; 
a destitute orphan of this vicinity ? whose education and means 
of livelihood he had, with a generosity less remarkable in Arabia 
than it might be elsewhere, provided for, till the youth was 
able to work out for himself his own way in the world. He 
now happened to be filling a water-skin from a well near the 
roadside at the moment of our arrival. The boy ran up to kiss 
Aboo-'Eysa's hand, and to prove, by the evident sincerity of his 
delight at seeing him again, that gratitude is no less an Arab 
than a European virtue, whatever the ignorance or the prejudices 
of some foreigners may have affirmed to the contrary. With a 
little knot of companions walking by our side, and laughing 
and talking their fill, we entered on a byway leading between 
the royal stables on one hand, and a spacious garden belonging 
to 'Abd-el-Lateef, £adee of the town, on the other. After a 
while we came out on the great cemetery, which spreads along 
the north-eastern wall, and contains the population of many 
past years— low tombs, without stone or memorial, inscription 
or date. Among these lie Turkee, father of the present 
monarch, and close beside him his slaughtered rivals, Mesharee 
and Ebn-Theney'yan, with many others of note in their day, 
now undistinguished from the meanest and poorest of their 
fellow-countrymen. 



23O RVad [Chap. VIII 

This burial-ground is intersected by several tracks, leading to 
the different town-gates; we ourselves now followed a path 
ending at the north-eastern portal, a wide and high entrance, with 
thick square towers on either side ; several guardsmen armed 
with swords were seated in the passage. Aboo-'Eysa answered 
their challenge, and led us within the town. Here we found 
ourselves at first in a broad street, going straight to the palace ; 
on each side were large houses, generally two storeys high, wells 
for ablution, mosques of various dimensions, and a few fruit- 
trees planted here and there in the courtyards. After ad- 
vancing two hundred yards or rather more, we had on our right 
hand the palace of 'Abd-Allah, a recent and almost symme- 
trical construction, square in form, with goodly carved gates, 
and three storeys of windows one above the other. We con- 
templated and were contemplated by groups of negroes and 
servants, seated near the doors, or on the benches outside, in 
the cool of the morning shade. A little farther on, to the left, 
we passed the palace of Djeloo'wee, brother of Feysul, and at 
this time absent on business in the direction of Kela'at-Bisha'. 
At last we reached a great open square : its right side, the 
northern, consists of shops and warehouses ; while the left is 
entirely absorbed by the huge abode of Nejdean royalty; in 
front of us, and consequently to the west, a long covered pas- 
sage, upborne high on a clumsy colonnade, crossed the breadth 
of the square, and reached from the palace to the great mosque, 
which it thus joins directly with the interior of the castle, and 
affords old Feysul a private and unseen passage at will from his 
own apartments to his official post at the Friday prayers, without 
exposing him on his way to vulgar curiosity, or perhaps to the 
dangers of treachery. For the fate of his father and of his 
great-uncle, his predecessors on the throne, and each of them 
pierced by the dagger of an assassin during public worship, has 
rendered Feysul very timid on this score, though not at prayer- 
time only. Behind this colonnade, other shops and ware- 
houses make up the end of the square, or more properly par- 
allelogram; its total length is about two hundred paces, by 
rather more than half the same width. In the midst of this 
space, and under the far-reaching shadow of the castle walls, are 
seated some fifty or sixty women, each with a stock of bread, 
dates, milk, vegetables, or firewood before her for sale ; around 



Chap, viii] The Capital of Nejed 231 

are crowds of loiterers, camels, dromedaries, sacks piled up, and 
all the wonted accompaniments of an Arab market. 

But we did not now stop to gaze, nor indeed did we pay 
much attention to all this; our first introduction to the monarch 
and the critical position before us took up all our thoughts. 
So we paced on alongside of the long blind wall running out 
from the central keep, and looking more like the outside of 
a fortress than of a peaceful residence, till we came near 
a Ipw and narrow gate, the only entry to the palace. Deep 
sunk between the bastions, with massive folding-doors iron- 
bound, though thrown open at this hour of^ the day, and giving 
entrance into a dark passage, one migmVeasily have taken it 
for the vestibule of a prison ; while the number of guards, some 
black, some white, but all sword-girt, who almost choked the 
way, did not seem very inviting to those without, especially to 
foreigners. Long earth-seats lined the adjoining walls, and 
afforded a convenient waiting-place for visitors ; and here we 
took up our rest at a little distance from the palace gate ; 
but Aboo-'Eysa entered at once to announce our arrival, and 
the approach of the Na'ib. 

The morning was not far advanced, it might be eight o'clock 
or little later. The passers-by were many, for the adjoining 
market was open, and every one coming and going on his daily 
business. However no one approached to question us, though 
several stared ; we were somewhat surprised at this unwonted 
absence of familiarity, not yet fully knowing its cause. After 
a good half-hour's waiting the ice was broken. 

The first who drew near and saluted us was a tall meagre 
figure, of a sallow complexion, and an intelligent but slightly 
ill-natured and underhand cast of features. He was very well 
dressed, though of course without a vestige of unlawful silk in 
his apparel, and a certain air of conscious importance tempered 
the affability of his politeness. This was 'Abd-el-'Azeez, whom, 
for want of a better title, I shall call the minister of foreign 
affairs, such being the approximate translation of his official style, 
"'Wezeer-el-Kharijeeyah." His office extends to whatever does 
not immediately regard the internal administration, whether 
political, fiscal, or military. Thus it is his to regulate the 
reception of ambassadors from foreign courts, or the expedition 
of such from Ri'ad itself; to his department belongs the convey- 



232 RVad [Chap. VIII 

ance of government letters, messages, and all the detail of lesser 
affairs regarding allies or neighbours, especially where the 
Bedouin tribes of Nejed are concerned ; in his keeping are the 
muster-rolls of the towns and provinces ; and lastly, he exercises 
an executive superintendence over export and import duties — a 
profitable charge, particularly when in the hands of one not 
over-famed for strictness of conscience or contempt of gain. 
His personal qualities are those which distinguish the majority 
of old Ri'ad families, and are indeed common enough through- 
out 'Aared. A reserved and equable exterior, a smooth tongue, 
a courteous though grave manner, and beneath this, hatred, 
envy, rapacity, an(J,4icentiousness enough to make his intimacy 
dangerous, his enmity mortal, and his friendship suspected. 
This is the peculiar stamp of the 'Aared race, the pith and 
heart of the Wahhabee government ; we have already seen a 
sample of it in Mohanna at Bereydah ; but here it is a province 
of Mohannas. In general the base-work and ground-colour 
of their character is envy and hatred; rapacity and licentious- 
ness, though seldom wholly wanting, are accessory embellish- 
ments ; pride is universal, vanity rare. Add to this, great 
courage, endurance, persistence of purpose, an inflexible will 
united to a most flexible cunning, passions that can bide their 
time, and audacity long postponed till the moment to strike 
once, and once only ; and it will be easily understood why the 
empire of these men is alike widely spread and widely hated, 
submitted to and loathed, now firm in quiet pressure, and now 
varied by broad blood-streaks and desolating terror. 

Accompanied by some attendants from the palace, 'Abd-el- 
'Azeez came stately up, and seated himself by our side. He 
next began the customary interrogations of whence and what, 
with much smiling courtesy and show of welcome. After 
hearing our replies, the same of course as those given else- 
where, he invited us to enter the precincts, and partake of his 
Majesty's coffee and hospitality, while he promised us more im- 
mediate communications from the king himself in the course of 
the day. Accordingly we followed him within the gate, and 
passing its long and obscure continuation came into a sort of 
interior lane, or open corridor. On one side were the apart- 
ments occupied by the sovereign, his private audience-room, his 
oratory, so to call it, or special Musalla, "place of prayer," and 



chap, viiij The Capital of Nejed 233 

behind these the chambers of his numerous harem, and of his 
unmarried daughter, an old maid of. fifty at least, who acts as 
her father's secretary in important correspondence, and with 
whom, for this very reason, Feysul has never been willing to 
part, in spite of her many and pressing suitors. This quarter 
of the palace is spacious and lofty, three storeys in height, and 
between fifty and sixty feet from the ground to the roof-para- 
pet. In these very rooms Mesharee, the temporary usurper, 
was killed by ; Abd-Allah, the father of our old acquaintance 
Telal. In front of this mass of building, bu ; t on the inner side 
and on the right of the passage just mentioned, is a square 
unroofed court, surrounded with seats, and here Feysul some- 
times gives a half-public audience. From this court a private 
door, well guarded and narrow like the first, leads to the apart- 
ments described, which form, so to speak, a separate palace 
within the palace. They own, however, a second point of 
communication with the rest of the building, by means of a 
covered way, thrown out from the second storey across the 
passage where we now stood; a third is given by the long gallery 
that leads above its columns to the mosque at about a hundred 
yards' distance; on all other sides whatever intercourse from 
without is carefully excluded. I ought here to add that all the 
windows are strongly cross-barred, and the doors solid and pro- 
vided with stout locks and bolts, while on the outside a glacis 
encircles the lower part of the walls, and adds to their thickness, 
besides giving them the appearance of regular fortification. 
Lastly, the ground-storey has no windows, large or small, 
opening on the exterior. 

On the other side of the passage the first door we meet with 
is that of the K'hawah. To this apartment entrance is given 
by a vestibule wherein visitors deposit their shoes or swords, or 
both if they have both ; the K'hawah itself is sufficiently large, 
about forty feet in length and of nearly equal width, but low 
and ill-lighted. Farther on is another door, conducting to the 
prison. I visited two of its chambers or cells ; they would hardly 
have attracted the censure even of a Howard — large, airy, and 
provided with whatever might be requisite for the comfort of 
their in dwellers. The Habs-ed-Dem, literally " Prison of Blood," 
that is, that for state criminals of the first order, is underneath, 
below ground, and probably affords worse lodgings; but I did 



234 RVad [Chap, viii 

not think it prudent to ask admittance. Just beyond this prison, 
and opposite to the courtyard on the other side already men- 
tioned, a long flight of stairs leads up through the open air to 
the second storey; here is a guest's dining-room, capable of 
admitting forty at a time, and pleasantly cool. Immediately 
behind it is said to exist in the very thickness of the wall a 
small closet, communicating with the secret passage to the 
harem ; and in this unworthy niche popular scandal ensconces 
Feysui, who may thus himself unseen overhear through the thin 
partition whatever escapes his unsuspecting guests in a moment 
of convivial freedom, and record it for his own ends: — "rats 
behind the arras" ! Beyond are rooms inhabited by servants 
and attendants. 

Farther on the passage enters the main body of the palace, 
passing under the second storey, and at once branches off on 
either side. Right hand it leads to the great kitchen, next to the 
indoors Musalla, or oratory for the inhabitants of the palace, 
Feysui and his harem alone excepted ; and beyond terminates 
in a second and spacious courtyard, on one side of which is the 
arsenal and powder-magazine, and on the other workshops of 
various descriptions, a watchmaker's among the rest, all for the 
king's immediate service. Hard by the kitchen are the rooms 
of 'Abd-el-Hameed, native of Balkh, a dubious character, sup- 
posed to be deeply engaged in religious study, and really busied 
in very different pursuits ; but of him more anon. On this same 
side inhabits our friend 'Abd-el-'Azeez, the foreign minister; but 
I never entered his saloon, contenting myself with identifying 
the door and locality for information's sake. 

The left branch passage leads to the large and handsome 
apartments tenanted by Mahboob, prime minister of the empire. 
Exactly opposite lives the Metow'waa', or chaplain of the palace, 
and next door tohim another learned Nejdean, both plunged 
in studies on antecedent reprobation, and the polytheism of all 
sects, their own excepted. Farther on are the extensive quarters 
of Djowhar, the state-treasurer (his name, which being inter- 
preted means " Jewel," is at least appropriate), and opposite to 
these is a long suite of rooms where lives one Nasir, a sort of 
court chamberlain, but which are also at the disposal of Sa'ood, 
second son of Feysui, when he visits his father at Ri'ad. Last, 
but not least, Aboo-Shems, head artilleryman of the army, in- 



chap, viii] The Capital of Nejed 235 

habits this same section of the palace. Besides these notables, 
a crowd of full sixty or seventy attendants, mostly negroes, are 
lodged within the precincts ; while all and each, from the highest 
to the lowest, have their separate apartments for numerous 
wives; and, again, every single household is entirely distinct 
from the rest : hence my readers may imagine how vast and how 
ill-assorted this mass of building must be. Lastly, there exists 
on the left a long courtyard or area, corresponding to that 
already mentioned on the right ; and here too is situated the 
Bab-es-Sirr, or secret gate, constructed to serve in the even- 
tualities of a siege, of treason, or other desperate emergencies. 
The entire hive of habitations is surrounded by high walls and 
hollow round towers for defence ; two-thirds of the circuit have 
the additional safeguard of a deep trench, but without water. 

If my readers have seen, as most of them undoubtedly will, 
the Paris Tuileries, they may hereby know that the whole extent 
of Feysul's palace equals about two-thirds of that construction, 
and is little inferior to it in height ; if indeed we except the 
angular pyramidal roofs or extinguishers peculiar to the French 
edifice. But in ornament the Parisian pile has the better of it, 
for there is small pretension to architectural embellishment in 
this Wahhabee Louvre. Without, within, every other consi- 
deration has been sacrificed to strength and security; and the 
outer view of Newgate, at any rate, bears a very strong resem- 
blance to the general effect of Feysul's palace. However, this 
latter is at any rate well furnished and fitted up, especially in 
the sections allotted to the royal family themselves, to Mahboob 
and to Djowhar ; the upstairs rooms too are fairly lighted ; not 
so the ground-storey, which would be all the better for gas, could 
it but be introduced here. 

I should have said that the quarter set apart for royalty, that 
is, Feysul and his many queens, is itself a quadrangle with an 
inner court, but into this I was never permitted to enter; these 
are family apartments on which no prying eye may look. The 
divan for special receptions, the only room hereabouts into 
which a stranger can be introduced, is large and comfortable, 
being about fifty feet long, twenty or more in breadth, and 
high in proportion. 

In the first court, and in that on the left where resides 
the valorous Abpo-Shems, several rusty specimens of artillery 



236 RVad [Chap. VIII 

strike awe into Arab souls. I counted above twenty field- 
pieces, half-a-dozen of them still available for service; there 
were, I was told, others, which I did not see. At Has a 
and Kateef there exist about thirty more ; so that Feysul's 
battery-list may sum up sixty or so of these warlike engines ; a 
fourth of them in all, according to my personal inspection, are 
fit for use; and the rest "as good, for aught his kingship 
knows," but they are " honeycombed." 

Such is the palace, as I afterwards came to know it in 
detail, and such its contents. For the present we stopped 
short at our visit to the K'hawah. The head coffee-maker 
was a good-natured fellow, and, strange to say, not a negro, 
nor even a man of 'Aared, but from the IJareek ; several guests 
were seated around, and conversation followed, but every one 
was manifestly under restraint. The fact is, that in this town, 
and yet more of course in the palace, no one ambitious of 
sleeping in a whole skin can give his tongue free play; and 
all have in consequence the manner of boys when the school- 
master is at home. However, the coffee was excellent ; in that 
point Ri'ad and its K'hawahs are unrivalled, and we remained 
awhile in aromatic enjoyment, awaiting further orders from 
'Abd-el-'Azeez, or some other of the court. 

But the coincident arrival of the Na'ib and his train was too 
serious a preoccupation to admit of much thought being yet 
given to us ; and when noon came we were still sitting almost 
disregarded in the K'hawah, while our baggage and camels 
waited patiently in the sun outside. At last a negro slave came 
up, and invited us in the king's name to dinner within the 
I guest-room upstairs, and there accordingly we ate our rice and 
mutton with a garnish of dates, and on rising from table were 
ieminded by our dusky Ganymede to pray God for a long 
raign to Feysul our host. 

■Aboo-'Eysa meanwhile, in company with the outriders sent 
from the palace, had gone to meet the Na'ib and introduce 
him to the lodgings prepared for his reception. Very much 
was the Persian astounded to find none of the royal family 
among those who thus came, no one even of high name or 
office ; but yet more was his surprise when, instead of imme- 
diate admittance to Feysul's presence and eager embrace, he 
was quietly led aside to the very guest-room whither we had 



Chap, viii] The Capital of Nejed 237 

been conducted, and a dinner not a whit more sumptuous than 
ours was set before him, after which he was very coolly told 
that he might pray for Feysul and retire to his quarters, while 
the king settled the day and hour whereon he would vouchsafe 
him the honour of an audience. 

I never saw any one so unutterably disgusted as our Persian 
on this occasion. In broken Arabic, and loud enough to be 
heard by half the palace, he vented his spleen against Arabs, 
Bedouins, Wahhabees, Nejed, town, country, and all. The 
men of 'Aared, who heard and half understood, looked very 
grave, but were much too polite to say anything. Perhaps 
Feysul too was there, invisible in his recess/to overhear the 
conversation. Aboo-'Eysa well knew that antipathy was in 
this case mutual, and that if the Na'ib thought the Wahhabees 
and their king mere barbarians, unworthy, in European phrase, 
to black his shoes, they, in their turn, looked on him as a 
despicable foreigner and an infidel, thus fairly equalizing the 
balance of reciprocal aversion. Hence he could not but feel 
the position to be very uncomfortable, and tried to console the 
indignant Shirazee with excuses and explanations of the " se 
non vero, ben trovato " kind. All this in our presence, for the 
Iranian band arrived just at the conclusion of our meal. I had 
much ado not to laugh at both parties, thinking " six of one 
and," &c, but tried my utmost to look grave, in consideration 
of the Nej deans around, and took my cue from Aboo-'Eysa. 
Meanwhile we suggested to this latter, in an undertone, that 
for us too lodging for man and beast would be very desirable, 
and that if we had dined our dromedaries had not. Our guide 
was well acquainted with the ins and outs of the palace, and 
in less than no time had found out 'Abd-el-'Azeez, and arranged 
matters with him in our behalf. Nay, the minister of foreign 
affairs condescended to come in person, and, sweetly smiling, 
informed us that our temporary habitation was ready, and that 
Aboo-'Eysa would conduct us thither without delay. We then 
begged tqt know, if possible, the king's good will and pleasure 
regarding O^r stay and our business in the town. For on our 
first introductl^g we had duly stated, in the most correct Wah- 
habee phraseology that we had come to Ri'ad " desiring the 
favour of God, and secondly of Feysul ; and that we begged 
of God, and secondly %f Feysul, permission to exercise in the 



238 RVad [Chap. VIII 

town our medical profession, under the protection of God, and 
in the next place of Feysul." For Dogberry's advice to " set 
God first, for God defend but God should go before such 
villains," is here observed to the letter ; whatever is desired, 
purported, or asked, the Deity must take the lead. Nor this 
only, but even the subsequent mention of the creature must 
nowise be coupled with that of the Creator by the ordinary con- 
junction "wf that is, "and," since that would imply equality 
between the; two — flat blasphemy in word or thought. Hence 
the disjunctive "thumma," or "next after," "at a distance," must 
take the pla£e of "w'," under penalty of prosecution under the 
statute. " Unlucky the man who visits Nejed without being 
previously \#ell versed in the niceties of grammar," said Bara- 
kat ; " undfer these schoolmasters a mistake might cost the 
scholar his head." But of this more anon : to return to our 
subject, 'Abd-el-'Azeez, a true politician, answered our second 
interrogation with a vague assurance of good will and unmean- 
ing patronage. Meantime the Na'ib and his train marched off 
in high dudgeon to their quarters, and Aboo-'Eysa gave our 
dromedaries a kick, made them rise, and drove them before us 
to our new abode. 

This was in a section of Djeloo' wee's palace, now vacant, as 
before stated, through the absence of the prince on a half- 
military, half-fiscal expedition. A spacious K'hawah, with two 
adjoining rooms and an upstairs chamber, had been set apart 
for our use. We put up the dromedaries in the courtyard, and 
installed ourselves in the K'hawah. 

But it is time to "shift the scene, to represent" what measures 
were being taken behind the stage in the palace itself on our 
account, and what effect this morning's incidents had produced 
on Feysul and his court. We were not long in learning the 
particulars, equally ludicrous and characteristic of the land and 
of its rulers, and well calculated to assign the full measure of 
their weakness, no less than other circumstances had given us 
that of their strength. The facts were as follow : — 

When Feysul received intelligence of this bevy of strangers 
at his door, the Persian " charge d'affaires " with all his griev- 
ances, the Meccans with their impudent mendicity, and the 
Syrians with their medical pretensions, he fairly lost his ba- 
lance of mind, and went next to mad. Old and blind, super- 



Chap, viii] The Capital of Nejed 239 

stitious and timid, bigoted and tyrannical, whatever construc- 
tion the utmost conjecture could put on this motley band 
thus rushing almost unannounced into his very capital, nay, 
encamped at the doors of his own palace, served only to augment 
his alarm, suspicion, and disgust. The sacred centre of Nej- 
dean orthodoxy profaned in one and the same moment by 
the threefold abomination of Persians, Meccans, and Syrians, 
Shiya'ees, Sonnees, and Christians, heretics, polytheists, and 
infidels, was surely enough to call down fire from heaven, or 
awake an earthquake from beneath. An invasion of cholera was 
the very least that could be next anticipated. There was, how- 
ever, worse yet : the begging Meccans migjit indeed be easily 
got rid of, and a scanty gift would, it was to be hoped, purchase 
the relief of the capital from the pollution of their presence. 
But the Na'ib, with Teheran and the Shah of Persia at his back, 
was a very different affair ; and Feysul knew too well that the 
complaints now about to be laid before him were over-true, 
and that for all vexations inflicted by Aboo-Boteyn or Mohanna, 
he himself, their master, was really and ultimately responsible. 
Besides, it was precisely by the Persian dagger of a Persian 
assassin that his ancestor Abd-el-'Azeez-ebn-Sa'ood had fallen ; 
and who could tell whether the Na'ib, or at any rate one of his 
attendants, might not have a similar weapon ready for the Chief 
of the Orthodox % For the two Syrians, worse still. They must 
be Christians, possibly assassins, certainly magicians. The 
least to be apprehended from them was a spell, an evil eye, 
perhaps a poisonous incantation. To sum up, one and all were 
spies ; of that at least there could be no doubt. 

Whether Mahboob, 'Abd-el-'Azeez, and the court in general, 
seriously partook in the terrors of Feysul, I know not, nor much 
think it. However, they had the prudence to sing in their 
master's tune, and all pronounced the danger real and imminent. 
What measures then might yet avail to avert it 1 or how dispose 
of so many enemies at once 1 The unanimous conclusion was 
that, prudence being the best part of valour, his most sacred 
Majesty should, without delay, escape from the capital, and 
from the ill-omened vicinity of so many infidels and sorcerers, 
spies and assassins, and conceal his royal person in some secure 
retreat, while due measures should in his absence be taken to 
sound the intentions and watch the proceedings of these most 



240 RVad [Chap. VIII 

suspicious strangers, and to anticipate or prevent their perfi- 
dious designs. 

Accordingly, hardly had the Na'ib retired to his appointed 
dwelling and we to ours, while the Meccans had been stowed 
away in another nook, but not far off, when Feysul, accompa- 
nied by Mahboob, 'Abd-el-'Azeez, and a few others, passed in 
great secrecy through the Bab-es-Sirr, left the castle, traversed 
the town as quietly as possible, and buried himself in the re- 
cesses of a secluded garden belonging to 'Abd-er-Rahman the 
Wahhabee. Guards were placed all round the orchard, and 
hope revived that, what between the remoteness of the spot, the 
blessings of the pure orthodoxy of its possessor, the thickness 
of the Miage, and the swords of the negroes, Feysul might yet 
elude.the contaminations of polytheism and the perils of assas- 
sination, spells, and evil eyes. Meanwhile a respite was thus 
assured, and leisure gained for better detecting the mystery of 
iniquity, and baffling it of its aim. 

No time was, however, to be lost, and the great engine of 
Wahhabee government, its spy system, than which no Tiberius 
ever organized a better, was set in play. Meanwhile the un- 
conscious conspirators and magicians were innocently engaged 
in arranging their baggage, and were indulging themselves in 
the narcotic vapours which they had been unable hitherto from 
sheer politeness to enjoy; but not till after carefully closing 
doors and windows, lest the odour of the " shameful " should 
diffuse itself through the hallowed breezes of the street. Sud- 
den a modest knock sounds at the door. Quick, pipes are laid 
aside ; Barakat goes to the vestibule to enquire who may be 
outside, and gives the tobacco-smoke time to evaporate by a 
minute's delay, before he opens the entrance. 

In glided a figure that we were little prepared to see in 
Ri'ad. Clad in the dress proper to Afghanistan, with an elegant 
white turban, and the unmistakable features of the north-west 
Punjab frontiers, 'Abd-el-Hameed, the seeming student of the 
palace> stood before us. A better spy, or one more likely to 
throw us off our guard, could not have been hit upon. For in 
addition to his being a stranger like ourselves, and therefore 
well calculated to attract our sympathy and open our hearts, 
he was possessed of all that grace of manner and apparent 
candour which his countrymen can so skilfully assume when 



Chap, viii] The Capital of Nejed 241 

required, and of which some of my readers may not improbably 
have made experience in the East. Master in the school of 
dissimulation, so much so that he had even taken in the Wah- 
habees themselves, who believed him anything but what he 
really was, he might trust to succeed even with us, in spite of 
our spells and divining art. 

This man was by his own account son of the governor of 
Balkh, and an orthodox Sonnee of the Haneefee class. Having 
set out from his native land on a pilgrimage to Mecca, with 
riches, attendants, and what not, the very king's son of the 
fairy-tale, he had, so he said, suffered a disastrous shipwreck 
on some unknown rock in the Persian GulfV and, harder still, 
pirates had robbed him of whatever the greedy deep had spared. 
Servantless, moneyless, companionless, he had arrived on the 
Wahhabee frontiers, where the fame of FeysuTs generosity had 
attracted him to Ri'ad, in hope of receiving necessary aid where- 
withal to complete his pilgrimage and return to his anxious 
parents. But once in that earthly paradise of piety and learn- 
ing, he had opened his eyes to the pure light and unadulterated 
faith of the Wahhabee, and henceforth resolved to renounce 
home and all its pleasures, and to pass his remaining days 
in the study and practice of genuine Islam, amid congenial 
souls, far from tobacco and polytheism. 

Provided by FeysuTs liberality with a suitable equipment of 
books and wives, he edified palace and town by his devout 
prayers and composed exterior ; his time was divided between 
the mosque and the harem, his mouth always full of the praises 
of God and Feysul, his conversation invariably of piety or 
women. No doubt could be entertained touching the sincerity 
of his conversion, and the sacrifice made by the fervent prose- 
lyte of ancestral halls and rule was everywhere extolled and 
appreciated. It may seem almost cruel to tarnish such pure 
gold, or to detract from so justly earned a reputation. But we 
are now far away from Ri'ad, and it will do 'Abd-el-Hameed no 
wrong if another and a truer version of his history is published 
in England. Native not of Balkh but of Peshawur, not a Son- 
nee but a Shiya'ee of the Shiya'ees, no governor's son but of 
plebeian extraction and worse than plebeian morals, he had 
in a market squabble stabbed a man, and anticipated justice 
by flight. Wandering about in an exile from which prudence 
' * R 



242 RVad [Chap. VIII 

could not permit him for some years to return, he had fixed on 
Ri'ad as a convenient retreat till the storm at home should have 
blown over, and practised on Nejdean gullibility by assuming 
the disguise which now he bore. But a true Shiya'ee at heart, 
he never failed to couple every uttered blessing on the Caliphs, 
the Sahhabah, and their living copies around him, with an 
inward curse on them all, and amused himself with the cre- 
dulity of men whom he held in his heart for very fools and 
infidels. Besides, board and lodging, good clothes, and plenty 
of wives were excellent things, and with such solaces his period 
of banishment passed by agreeably enough, while waiting till 
circumstances should permit him a safe return to his own land. 

All this we learned subsequently through the Na'ib, who, 
himself a native of a cognate country, and in his earlier years 
a frequent traveller in the upper valley of the Indus, proved, 
diamond cutting diamond, too sharp for our Peshawuree, and 
entertained me with a Hindoostanee version of the whole affair. 
Once on this cue, I set my own wits to work, and drew out of 
'Abd-el-Hameed (though this name, too, was a mere alias, but 
I have forgotten his authentic denomination) sufficient con- 
firmation of whatever the Shirazee had told. 

Our Peshawuree or Balkhee sat down, and after a few indif- 
ferent remarks began to consult me about some ailment of his 
outer man. But this not being the exact object of his visit, 
he soon got off the tack, and commenced cross-questioning 
and throwing out hints like angling-hooks, in hopes to fish up 
truth from the bottom of the well. Meanwhile the two Meccans 
had dropped in, and were in their turn submitted to the same 
interrogatory system, but were not detained long, since the 
main purport of their business, namely, begging, was soon under- 
stood. So 'Abd-el-IJameed returned to the charge with us; 
-tried me with Hindoostanee, Persian, and even a few words of 
broken English, but all in vain, and ended by inwardly con- 
cluding that the matter was far from satisfactory. Then he 
rose in a rather abrupt manner, and left us to give his report 
to those who had sent him. 

That this report was highly unfavourable I afterwards learnt. 
Not that he sincerely imagined our coming to have any dan- 
gerous import for the person of Feysul, or that we were in 
truth professors of the black art. But he was afraid of rivals 



Chap, viii] The Capital of Nejed 243 

in the good graces and favours of the palace, and felt like a 
tradesman who sees an opposition shop opening across the 
way ; hence he prudently desired to see us as far off as pos- 
sible, and to this effect spared neither suggestion nor calumny. 

Not long had the Peshawuree quitted us, when another and 
a very different but even more dangerous agent presented 
himself at our door, with an air bespeaking authority, varnished 
over by studied meekness, and a downcast eye ever prying to 
observe unobserved. It was a " Meddey'yee," or " Zelajoj,". 
one of the secret council and intimate organization of the Ri'ad 
government. j 

But considering that my readers are perhaps not sufficiently 
acquainted with these functionaries, it will be best here to give 
a slight digression regarding the first origin, the character, and 
the progress of the "Meddey'yee" institution, and of those who 
compose it. This will throw more light than anything yet said 
on the Wahhabee organization, of which the Meddey'yees are, 
in fact, the mainspring and directors. 

Their institution, at least in its present form, is by no means 
of ancient date ; it belongs to the present reign, and is due to 
recent events. In the year 1854 or 1855, for precise accuracy 
of chronology in these countries is utterly hopeless, the world- 
wide visitation of the cholera, after travelling over the more 
important and thickly-peopled lands and kingdoms of the East, 
bethought itself of Central Arabia, hitherto, it might seem, for- 
gotten or neglected by that scourge in the midst of more urgent 
occupations. Crossing the desert from the west, it fell on 
Nejed like a thunderbolt, and began its usual ravages, with a 
success totally unchecked, my readers may well imagine, by 
any preventive or curative measures. The upper mountain 
district of Sedeyr alone escaped ; the lower provinces of Yema- 
mah, Hareek, Woshem, and Dowasir suffered fearfully, and the 
'Aared itself was one of the most severely treated. The capital, 
lying in a damp valley, and close-built, was depopulated ; a 
third of its jnhabitants are said to have perished within a few 
weeks ; apfltmg the victims were some members of the roya] 
family, and many others of aristocratic descent. 

Now, so it was, that for some years previous, relaxation in 
religious and sectarian peculiarities had been introducing itself 
into Ri'ad ; prosperity, and yet more the preceding Egyptian 

r 2 



244 RVad [Chap, viii 

occupation, followed by frequent intercourse with the men and 
government of Cairo, an intercourse continued during the entire 
reign of 'Abbas Basha, nor wholly interrupted under that of 
Sa'eed, had combined to encourage this deplorable falling- 
away. Usages which, when known only through the medium 
of polemical treatises and controversial diatribe, excited just 
horror, now seemed less abominable on practical acquaintance 
and closer view, so contagious is bad example. The "shameful" 
had sent up ijjg* vapours in the K'hawahs of the capital, and 
heads had l^en seen profaned by the iniquity of silk and gold 
thread. Mo reasonable mind could hesitate whence the origin 
of the cholera ; the crime was notorious, the punishment mere 
justice Of course the best, indeed the only, remedy for the 
epidemic was a speedy reform, and an efficacious return to the 
purity and intolerance of better days. 

Feysul now convoked an assembly of all the principal men 
in the town. When met, he addressed them in a speech with 
which I shall not tire the patience of my readers, though my 
own had to bear with its rehearsal. It consisted mainly of 
those arbitrary and unadvised interpretations of the ways of 
Providence to man, unfortunately common everywhere, and 
justifiable nowhere. The upshot was, that they had all done 
wrong, very wrong ; that great scandals had been given or per- 
mitted; that the fine gold had become unquestionably dim, and 
the silver alloyed with dross, and that their only hope lay in 
strict search and trial of their ways, with suitable repentance 
and reform. But for himself, added the monarch, he was now 
old and infirm, nor able unaided and alone to carry into effect 
measures proportioned to the gravity of the occasion. Accord- 
ingly he discharged the obligation of his own conscience on 
theirs, and rendered them thus responsible for the longer dura- 
tion of the cholera, or whatever else might take place, should 
his timely warning be neglected. 

The elders of the town retired, held long consultation, and 
returning, proposed the following scheme, which received the 
kingly ratification. From among the most exemplary and 
zealous of the inhabitants twenty-two were to be selected, and 
entitled " Meddey'yeeyah," "men of zeal," or "Zelators," such 
being the nearest word in literal translation, and this I shall 
henceforth employ, to spare Arab cacophony. Candidates of 



Chap, viii] The Capital of Nejed 245 

the requisite number were soon found and mustered. On these 
twenty-two Feysul conferred absolute power for the extirpation 
of whatever was contrary to Wahhabee doctrine and practice, 
and to good morals in general, from the capital firstly, and then 
from the entire empire. No Roman censors in their most palmy 
days had a higher range of authority, or were less fettered by all 
ordinary restrictions. Not only were these Zelators to denounce 
offenders, but they might also in their own unchallenged right 
inflict the penalty incurred, beat and fine at discretion, nor was 
any certain limit assigned to the amount of the mulct, or to the 
number of the blows. Most comprehensive too was the list of 
offences brought under the animadversion of these new censors: 
absence from public prayers, regular attendance five times a day 
in the public mosques being henceforth of strict obligation; 
smoking tobacco, taking snuff, or chewing (this last practice, 
vulgarly entitled "quidding," had been introduced by the jolly 
tars of Koweyt and other seaports of the Persian Gulf); wearing 
silk or gold ; talking or having a light in the house after night 
prayers; singing, or playing on any musical instrument ; nay, 
even all street-games of children or childish persons : these were 
some of the leading articles on the condemned list, and objects 
of virtuous correction and severity. Besides, swearing by any 
other name save that of the Almighty, any approach to an invoca- 
tion, or even ejaculation directed to aught but Him ; in short, 
whatever in word or deed, in conversation or in conduct, might 
appear to deviate from the exact orthodoxy of the letter of the 
Coran and the Wahhabee commentary, was to be denounced, or 
even punished on the spot. Lastly, their censorship extended 
over whatever might afford suspicion of irregular conduct ; for 
instance, strolling about the streets after nightfall, entering too 
frequently a neighbour's house, especially at hours when the 
male denizens may be presumed absent, with any apparent 
breach of the laws of decorum or decency ; all these were ren- 
dered offences amenable to cognizance and correctional mea- 
sures. It is easy to imagine what so wide-reaching a power might 
become when placed in the hands of interested or vindictive 
administrators. However, the number of the Zelators them- 
selves, and the innate toughness and resistance of the Arab 
character, somewhat diminished the ill consequences which 
might naturally have been expected from this over-absolute and 



246 R?ad [Chap. VIII 

scarce-defined authority, though many and most atrocious in- 
stances of its exercise and abuse were related in my hearing. 

These Zelators were bound to a very simple style of dress, 
devoid of ornament or pretension ; they may not even wear the 
sword, mark of directly temporal or military authority. But in 
compensation, each one bears in hand a long staff, which serves 
the double pbject of official badge and instrument of chastise- 
ment, much like the truncheon of our own policeman ; this, 
combined with downcast eyes, slow walk, subdued tone of 
voice, the head-dress drawn cowl-fashion low over the forehead, 
but without head-band, and a constant gravity of demeanour, 
suffices to distinguish them at first sight from the ordinary 
crowd. Of course, in their conversation, pious texts and ejacu- 
lations, accompanied by the forefinger upraised every half- 
minute at least, in season and out of season, to testify to the 
unity of God, are even more frequent with them than among 
the common faithful. Pacing from street to street, or unex- 
pectedly entering the houses to see if there is anything incorrect 
going on there, they do not hesitate to inflict at once, and 
without any preliminary form of trial or judgment, the penalty 
of stripes on the detected culprit, be he who he may; and 
should their own staves* prove insufficient, they straightway call 
in the assistance of bysfemders or slaves, who throw the guilty 
individual prone on the ground, and then in concert with the 
Zelator belabour him at pleasure. A similar process is adopted 
for those whom negligence lias kept from public prayer ; the 
Zelator of the quarter, accompanied by a band of the righteous, 
all well armed with stout sticks, proceeds to the designated 
dwelling, and demands anjSntrance, which no one dares refuse. 
It is then a word and a Jlow, or rather many blows and few 
words, till the undevout Jhortcomer is quickened into new fer- 
vour by the most cogenlf of all a posteriori arguments. Should 
he happen to be absent from home at the moment of the visit, 
nay, sometimes even after the administration of the healing 
chastisement, a pledge for future good conduct, as a cloak, 
a sword, a head-dress, or the like, is taken from the house, nor 
restored till several days of punctual attendance at the Mesjid 
have repaired the scandal of past negligence, and proved the 
sincerity of the conversion by its perseverance. But should 
any rash individual attempt to resist force by force, he may be 



Chap, viii] The Capital of Nejed 247 

sure of the roughest treatment ; and should he lift his hand 
against the sacred person of the Zelator, the sacrilegious mem- 
ber is destined to the block and the knife. However, where 
direct mutilation or capital punishment is due, for instance, in 
a case of avowed and formal heresy or infidelity, the crime is 
referred to the tribunal of Feysul himself, nor does he fail to 
prosecute the culprit with the utmost rigour. 

Furnished with such powers, and backed up by the whole 
weight of government, it may be easily supposed that the new 
broom swept clean, and that the first institution of the Zelators 
was followed by root-and-branch work. Rank itself was no 
protection, high birth no shelter, and private or political enmi- 
ties now found themselves masters of therf aim. Djeloo'wee, 
Feysul's own brother, was beaten with rods at the door of the 
king's own palace for a whiff of tobacco-smoke ; and his royal 
kinsman could not or would not interfere to save him from 
undergoing at fifty an ignominy barely endurable at fifteen. 
Soweylim, the prime minister, and predecessor of Mahboob, 
was on a similar pretext, but in reality (so said universal rumour) 
at the instigation of a competitor for his post, seized one day 
while on his return homeward from the castle, thrown down, 
and subjected to so protracted and so cruel a fustigation that 
he expired on the morrow. If such was the chastisement pre- 
pared for the first personages in the state, what could plebeian 
offenders expect % Many were the victims, many the backs 
that smarted, and the limbs crippled or broken. Tobacco 
vanished, though not infumo, and torn silks strewed the streets 
or rotted on the dunghills ; the mosques were crowded, and the 
shops deserted. In a few weeks the exemplary semblance of 
the outward man of the capital might have moved the admira- 
tion of the first Wahhabee himself. 

Similar measures were enforced throughout Nejed. Fervent 
Zelators, armed with rods and Corans, and breathing out ven- 
geance upon all " right-hand and left-hand defections," visited 
the various towns and villages with the happiest results ; and 
the entire 'Aared, Sedeyr, Woshem, Yemamah, and their neigh- 
bours, were speedily reformed and remodelled on the pattern 
of Ri'ad. 

But the zeal for revival did not stop here. The " infidels " of 
Kaseem and Hasa, along with the backsliders of IJareek, were 



248 RVad [Chap. VIII 

now to learn that Feysul would not tolerate any longer among 
them crimes reprobated by the genuine believers, and that they 
in their turn must conform at least their exterior to the decencies 
of orthodoxy, whatever might be the fashion of their hearts 
and minds. Missions, headed by Zelators, were organized, and 
a crusade against the prevailing scandals of the guilty provinces 
was set on foot. But in spite of the practical arguments that 
accompanied the Word, orthodoxy was destined here to meet 
with but a partial triumph. A strong reaction manifested itself, 
and in some places, at Bereydah in Kaseem for example, and at 
Zekkarah in Hasa, blows were returned with interest, and in 
one village of Kaseem at least, to my knowledge, the ardour of 
the Zelator was allayed by a sound ducking in a neighbouring 
pond. A compromise now took place : dresses wherein silk 
should not exceed a third part, or at most a half, of the mate- 
rial, were permitted, though with a sigh; and tobacco vendors 
or smokers were henceforth to content themselves with observ- 
ing decent privacy in the- sale or consumption of the forbidden 
article, on which condition they might do as they chose, unmo- 
lested, save in the public streets or market-place. Compulsory 
attendance at prayers was rarely enforced, and the roll-call of 
names, customary in the mosques of Nejed, was elsewhere pru- 
dently omitted. However, a certain degree of outward confor- 
mity had been attained, and with that Feysul and his Star 
Chamber were fain to content themselves for the moment, and 
hope for better times. 

Even in Nejed and in Ri'ad itself the outstretched cord 
ended by relaxing a little, nor could the unpopularity of the 
new institution remain wholly concealed. Yet it was kept up, 
though the cholera, scared no doubt by the tremendous out- 
break of orthodox severity, had fled the land ; nor was the 
theory of the new censorship changed, only its practical exer- 
cise assumed a milder form, while the thing itself was carefully 
maintained, a bulwark against future heaven-sent scourges or 
earthly fallings-away, and a powerful administrative engine or 
rod when required. The slaves were indeed less busy than 
before, and the domestic visits of rarer occurrence ; chastise- 
ment was sometimes preceded by admonition, and the dorsal 
vertebrae of culprits more seldom broken. But the number of 
the Zelators was constantly filled up, whenever death or retire- 



chap, viii] The Capital of Nejed 249 

merit occasioned a vacancy ; the nomination of each new candi- 
date depending on themselves, and in concert with Feysul. 
Twice every week they have official right to a private audience 
of the king ; the days assigned are Monday and Thursday, the 
hour sunrise or a little earlier. No small or unimportant favour 
this from a monarch whose public audiences are at the very 
most once a month, and who in private is almost inaccessible 
to all save his prime minister, his negro slaves, and his harem. 
The Zelators are, in fact, the real council of state ; and no 
question of peace or war, alliance or treaty, but is suggested 
or modified by them. They represent what we may with all 
due respect entitle the High Conservative party, amid that 
inevitable tendency of all organized society to advancement, 
from which not even Wahhabees are exempt But more of this 
and of them hereafter. 

Meanwhile I might almost leave my readers to suppose in 
what light such a body, and those who compose it, are regarded 
by the mass of the population. Surrounded with all the de- 
ference and all the odium consequent on their office and 
character, they meet everywhere with marks of open respect >?*// 
and covert distrust and hatred. Are a circle of friends met iii\ ^^ 
the freedom of conversation 1 let a Zelator enter, their voices / 
are hushed ; and when talk is resumed, it follows a tack in ^ 
which the recording angels of Islam themselves would find 
nothing to modify. Are a bevy of companions walking gaily 
with too light a gait down the street 1 at the meeting of a 
Zelator, all compose their pace, and direct their eyes in mo- 
mentary modesty on the ground. Is a stealthy lamp lighted 
at unreas0nable hours ? at a rap on the shutters suspected for 
that of the Zelator, the "glim is doused," and all is silent in 
darkness. Or, worse than all, is the forbidden pipe sending up 
its sinful fumes in some remote corner? at the fatal tap on the 
outer door, the unholy implement is hastily emptied out into 
the hearth, and then carefullv/Tiidden under the carpet, while 
everyone hurries to wash his^nouth and mustachios, and by the 
perfume of cloves or aromatic herbs give himself an orthodox 
smell once more. In sh^rt, schoolboys caught out by a severe 
under-master at an illicij/prank, pious ladies surprised in reading 
the last French novel,/or teetotallers suddenly discovered with 
a half-empty black bottle and tumbler on the table, never look 



2$0 RVdd [Chap. VIII 

more awkward, more silly, and more alarmed than Nej deans 
on these occasions when a Zelator comes upon them. 
V — * I was often more especially amused (to anticipate incidents 
of the following days) by the figure Aboo-'Eysa used to make 
in such a scrape. He knew the Zelators for what they were, 
and they too knew him for what he was ; but high court pro- 
tection and a position of wealth and influence in the one party, 
and an official character not to be insulted with impunity in 
the other, occasioned a degree of mutual forbearance, curiously 
constrained and transparently comic. While the fury of reli- 
gious renovation lasted, Aboo-'Eysa had prudently kept out of 
harm's way; and if indispensable business drew him to Ri'ad, 
would pitch a tent without the walls, there with his boon- com- 
panions to smoke, eat and drink, and curse the Zelators, nor 
enter the city save by stealth, and to visit the palace only. 
Now that the first fervour, like all first fervours, had somewhat 
cooled down, he ventured on lodging within the town, and only 
took care to be out of the way on Fridays or at prayer-time. 
However, while he was in the capital his silken robe judiciously 
disappeared, his ornamental head-kerchief was folded up and 
laid aside to make place for an old cotton rag, and he studi- 
ously avoided certain devouter quarters of the town and the 
vicinity of the great Wahhabee family. As for paying any one 
of them a visit, he would as soon have called on the fiend 
himself. But when unavoidable necessity or chance brought 
him in their way, he did his best to look very good, and 
measured his conversation with suitable decorum of phrase. 
They, on the other hand, condescendingly winked at frailties 
decently though imperfectly veiled, and affected not to notice 
what could not be wholly hidden. However, in the moments 
of mutual absence, neither spared the other: Aboo-'Eysa named 
them "dogs," "hypocrites," and much more; while the fingers 
of the Zelators tingled to be at the praiseworthy occupation of 
" purifying his hide," for so the profane technicality of Nejed 
styles the merited chastisement of dissenters and ill-doers. But 
it is time to return to our new acquaintance, the occasion of 
this long digression. 

'Abbood, for such was his name, though I never met the like 
before or after in Arabia Proper, however common it may be 
in Syria and Lebanon, took a different and a more efficacious 



Chap, viii] The Capital of Nejed 251 

mode of espionage than 'Abd-el-Hameed had done before him. 
Affecting to consider us Mahometans, and learned ones too, 
he entered at once on religious topics, on the true character of 
Islam, its purity or corruptions, and enquired much after the 
present teaching and usages of Damascus and the North, evi^ 
dently in the view of catching us in our words. But he had 
luckily encountered his match; for every citation of the Coran 
we replied with two, and proved ourselves intimately acquainted 
with the " greater" and the "lesser" polytheism of foreign 
nations and heterodox Mahometans, with the commentaries of 
Beydowee and the tales of the Hadeeth^till our visitor, now 
won over to confidence, launched out dull-sail on the sea of 
discussion, and thereby rendered himself equally instructive and 
interesting to men who had nothing more at heart than to learn 
the tenets of the sect from one of its most zealous professors, 
nay, a Zelator in person. In short, he ended by becoming 
half a friend, and his regrets at our being, like other Damas- 
cenes, yet in the outer porch of darkness, were tempered by a 
hope, which he did not disguise, of at least putting a window 
into our porch for its better enlightenment. 

Other visitors came and went ; Aboo-'Eysa, too, as in duty 
bound, called on us towards evening to see if all was well, and 
how we were lodged. The locality did not much please us, 
because too near to the royal palace, almost, in fact, belonging 
to it; besides, the apartments were over large, nor could we 
arrange them with anything like comfort for their very size ; 
our furniture was too limited for the task, and our means also. 
So we begged Aboo-'Eysa to look out for us another and a 
more proportionate dwelling, suited to our modest circum- 
stances and the character of our profession. Many had indeed 
already demanded medical advice and assistance, nor could any 
other occupation suit us better in this town. Our friend pro- 
mised, and kept his word. • 

Next day, in the forenoon, while we were sauntering about 
the market-place, we met the minister 'Abd-el-'Azeez, who had 
that morning returned to the capital. With a smiling face and 
an air of great benignity he took us aside, and informed us that 
the king did not consider Ri'ad a proper field for our medical 
skill; that we had better at once continue our journey to Hof- 
hoof, whither Aboo-'Eysa should conduct us straightway; and 



252 Ri'ad [Chap. VIII 

that the monarch would furnish each of us with a camel, a new 
suit of clothes, and money. 

To make a bridge of gold (even though the sum offered was 
small) for a flying enemy is a wise measure, whether in Ma- 
cedonia or in Nejed ; and Feysul thought that he could not 
better ensure his safety from our spells and incantations than 
by making us his friends, but at a reasonable distance. We, in 
our innocence, did not yet know the reason of this manoeuvre, 
and attributed it to other and lighter motives. So, instead of 
acquiescing, we represented to 'Abd-el-'Azeez that our stay at 
Ri'ad would be alike advantageous to the bodies of the towns- 
men and to our own purses; whereas an over-speedy departure 
might sound ill, and prejudice our success even at Hofhoof. 
He promised to consult Feysul once more upon the matter, but 
gave us to understand that there was little prospect of an 
" amendment " in the royal decree. Of course our persistence 
in wishing thus to remain at Ri'ad could have no other effect 
than to confirm the timid suspicions of the old tyrant ; but 
this we knew not. 

Meanwhile the privy council assembled around the king in 
the garden had come to a somewhat similar resolution about 
the Persians, whom Feysul determined to dismiss at the shortest 
possible notice, though with fair words and some trifling present, 
but without personal audience or effective redress. For this he 
had more than one reason ; but it was the dread of assassination 
that worked strongest of all on his evil conscience. 

However, Arab prudence made him unwilling to precipitate 
matters; and a little after noon he sent for Aboo-'Eysa, who im- 
mediately went to the garden where his Majesty lay concealed. 
What passed on that occasion we afterwards learnt in detail 
from different sources. Feysul received Aboo-'Eysa with an 
air of grave severity, and reproached him for having brought 
so ill-conditioned a cargo to the palace gates. Our guide 
made all possible excuses, and was backed up in his apology 
by the prime minister Mahboob, a staunch friend of Aboo- 
'Eysa's, or at least of his presents. For what regarded the 
Persians, it was resolved on better thoughts to give them some 
kind of satisfaction; but Feysul, ever fearful of treachery, 
could not yet be persuaded to receive the Na'ib in person; and 
accordingly that part of the business was committed to Mah- 



chap, viiij The Capital of Nejed 253 

boob, who was to give the Shirazee a hearing, and afterwards 
make his report to the king. Then came our affair : here the 
monarch showed himself extremely refractory, and Mahboob 
partook, or seemed to partake, in his uneasiness. Indeed, 
Feysul was half inclined to send us away, not to Hasa, but by 
the very route on which we had come; an ominous proceeding 
for us, and more likely to conclude in having us " packed with 
post horse up to heaven," than conveyed by the leisurely pace 
of camels to Kaseem or Shomer. At last the old king softened 
down, and concluded by saying that we might go on to Hasa, 
for the furtherance whereof he again proffered the liberal assist- 
ance already notified by 'Abd-el-'Azeez : Imt both he and his 
counsellors were decidedly averse to our remaining any longer 
in Ri'ad. 

When the Na'ib heard this news, he burst out into a new fit 
of passion, and said much of a very undiplomatic nature re- 
garding the king and his ministers ; nor could he well under- 
stand how a Bedouin, for so he persisted in styling Feysul, 
could treat with such haughty coolness the majesty of the Shah 
of Persia, represented in his envoy. However there was no 
help for it, so he smoothed his ruffled brow, chewed a little 
opium, smoked a nargheelah, and set about drawing up a long 
list of grievances and damages for the perusal of Mahboob on 
their approaching interview. 

Our own position was now an awkward one, nor did we 
exactly know how to amend it. We were thoroughly deter- 
mined not to quit Ri'ad till after fully satisfying our curiosity 
relative to its government, people, and whatever else it con- 
tained ; yet how to prolong our stay % To persist on our own 
score in remaining, after a twice-repeated order to depart, would 
have been sheer madness, and must inevitably lead to the worst 
consequences ; concealment or disguise was out of the question. 
Aboo-'Eysa was no less annoyed than ourselves ; our friend- 
ship, once commenced at Bereydah, had by frequent intercourse 
there, and yet more by our journey together from Kaseem to 
Ri'ad, become a real intimacy ; and though he did not precisely 
comprehend our object in so vehemently desiring a longer 
sojourn in the Wahhabee capital, he sympathised with our 
vexation at so silly yet so serious an obstacle to our wishes. At 
last, after much thinking and discussion, he proposed to try a 



254 RVad tchap. viij 

measure with the efficacy of which long experience had ren- 
dered him particularly conversant. The king, though obstinate 
and timorous, was likely in a matter of this sort to let himself 
ultimately be guided by the advice of his ministers. If 
Mahboob and 'Abd-el-'Azeez could be brought round to our 
cause, a revision of the royal edict might then be confidently 
expected. Now, incorruptibility was no more a virtue of the 
Nejdean court than Charles the Second's, or Louis-Philippe's, 
and that Aboo-'Eysa had the best possible reasons to know. 
However, even here a direct offer of minted coin would not 
look well. In this dilemma, two pounds' weight of scented 
wood, or " 'Q©d," a special favourite with Arabs, and above all 
with Nej deans, might prove a propitiatory offering of good 
savour, and render our modest petition more acceptable and 
efficacious. This he offered to procure at his own cost, and to 
manage its presentation. We, my readers may well suppose, 
made no difficulty. Night had already set in ; and 'Aboo-Eysa 
was not the man |o delay in a business where time was so 
precious. He went at once on his quest ; and his acquaintance 
with the people of the town enabled him soon to find the de- 
sired perfume^, which he returned to show us, and then departed 
a second tipSe, without delay, to leave them in our name at the 
doors of J^ahboob and 'Abd-el-'Azeez. Late in the night he 
returnedf and bade us await in sure hope of a more favourable 
intimation on the morrow. 

Nor were his expectations deceived. Before noon he was 
again summoned to the suburban retreat of royalty, and there 
told, that since, all things maturely considered, the town of 
Ri'ad did seriously stand in need of an iEsculapius, we might 
be permitted to remain in that quality, and freely exercise our 
profession under Feysul's own patronage, without fear of oppo- 
sition or disquiet. 

I have said some pages back that Djeloo'wee's palace soon 
appeared to Barakat and myself not well adapted to our medical 
avocations, and besides too near the castle of Feysul for strangers 
and " infidels" like ourselves. In consequence, Aboo-'Eysa had 
promised to look us out a more suitable dwelling-place. Next 
morning, before we met 'Abd-el-'Azeez, our guide visited us, 
and told us that a very comfortable abode had been put at 
our disposition, free of expense. This Aboo-'Eysa had managed 



Chap, viii] The Capital of Nejed 255 

through some friend of his at court, and without consulting 
Feysul or his ministers. Without delay we went to look at the 
proffered quarters. 

Leaving the palace of Djeloo'wee, we passed down the great 
street to the market-place, which we next crossed diagonally, 
till we had the castle-gate opposite to us on the other side; and 
then threaded a labyrinth of narrow by-streets, till a walk of 
about eight minutes brought us in front of a high covered 
passage ; through this we entered a broad impasse, on either 
side of which were several small habitations, while a large two- 
storeyed house closed the farther end. This stately mansion was 
now tenanted by the Na'ib Mohammed-' Alee and his train ; its 
original owner, a man of good family, and wealthy in Arab esti- 
mation, had become obnoxious to the " Zelators " of the town, 
and was compelled to anticipate a sound palm-stick thrashing, 
or worse, by a timely retreat to Hasa, where we afterwards met 
him — one of hundreds in the like predicament. His house was 
confiscated, not indeed absolutely, but in a provisional manner, 
by the government, and its vacant walls, by order of Feysul, 
now sheltered the Na'ib and his companions. Some way down 
the " Place" on the right, a side door gave admittance to a 
humbler dwelling, belonging, like many of the town houses 
hereabouts, to the palace, and rented on lease. It was in every 
respect fitted to our manner of life ; and if its tenants, our 
predecessors, suffered any inconvenience from evacuating the 
premises in our favour, this was fully made up to them by the 
munificent present of six Djedeedahs (a term to be explained 
afterwards), or about two shillings English, which our free and 
gracious liberality bestowed upon them. Whence my readers 
may infer, that the value of money in Ri'ad, and its proportion 
to house-rent, are not far from what they appear to have been 
in London under the reign of Edward II, or even later. 

Here we were possessors of no less than three apartments : the 
first a reception-room, or K'hawah, near the entrance, with its 
appropriate vestibule and fireplace ; it was long in form and 
somewhat dark, like most K'hawahs at Ri'ad, where the southerly 
climate and increasing heat renders the construction of apart- 
ments subservient to the greatest shelter obtainable from the 
sun's access, much more than is wont at Ha'yel, or even in 
Kaseem and Sedeyr. In the interior, and behind the K'hawah, 



2$6 Riad ichap. viii 

was a courtyard, in the middle of which a fine and odoriferous 
shrub of the verbena species attested the semi-sentimental 
rurality of Nejdean townsmen; the practice of nursing one or 
two plants, to give a city residence something of a country air, 
not being confined to London and its balcony flower-pots. 
Within the courtyard stood also a kitchen, separated from the 
rest of the dwelling. On the other side we had a good-sized 
chamber, of which I made my druggery and consultation room. 
Its roof was flat, like that of the K'hawah, and both were sur- 
rounded by a high parapet ; a wooden staircase led up to the 
one terrace, and a flight of stone steps to the other. Another 
small room had been converted by the late tenants into a store 
for furniture and provisions not requisite for immediate use, 
and of this they kept the keys, to our exclusion. 

We were here not too far from the market-place, yet at a 
decorous distance from the palace, and exactly in the quarter 
where dwell the fewest Zelators and none of the old Wahhabee 
family; indeed, this part of the town had the reputation, bad 
or good, of being not only the least bigoted, but even a sort of 
stronghold for the party of progress, since even Ei'ad owns such. 
Lastly, we became hereby next-door neighbours to the talkative 
Na'ib, whose mixed shrewdness and simplicity, ready tongue 
and broken Arabic, rendered him always an amusing and some- 
times an instructive companion. In short, we thought ourselves 
fortunate in this second selection of lodgings, and took it for a 
favourable augury for our business at Ri'ad. Without demur 
we cheerfully fell to putting all things in order, and became 
decent housekeepers in our way. 

Flour, rice, meat, and coffee were, or rather should have 
been, regularly furnished us from the palace, of which we were 
considered the guests. But finding that we did not much stand ' 
in need of the royal liberality, and that a little show of indepen- 
dence would do no harm, we were not over-diligent in asking 
for or even in receiving the supply, and it often went by our 
easy connivance to the private advantage of the purveyors. 
Only we insisted rigorously in obtaining our stated allowance 
of coffee, for it was excellent, and our consumption thereof 
unbounded. Aboo-'Eysa, who passed two-thirds of his leisure 
hours under our roof, had set us up in coffee-pots and other 
requisites ; to procure a new mortar, similar to that carried off 



Chap, viii] The Capital of Nejed 257 

by the faithless IJabbash at Bereydah, had been our first care 
on arriving here. Now our guide was a desperate coffee-drinker, 
so were also my companion and myself ; moreover, we made it 
a rule that no one should enter our premises without a dose of 
this nature, at any rate ; so that from earliest morn till latest 
evening, our fire was never extinguished, nor had our cups 
time to dry. 

I must here beg my reader's permission for a brief episode 
or digression on the subject of the above-mentioned beverage. 
In my quality of an Oriental of many years' standing, I am 
annoyed at the ignorance yet prevailing on ; so important a 
matter in the enlightened West ; and as aoidctor (at least in 
Arabia), I cannot see with silent indifference the nervous sys- 
tems of my fellow-men so rudely tampered with, or their mucous 
membranes so unseasonably drenched, as is too often the case 
to the west of the Bosporus. 

Be it then known, by way of prelude, that coffee though one 
in name is manifold in fact; nor is every kind of berry entitled 
to the high qualifications too indiscriminately bestowed on the 
comprehensive genus. The best coffee, let cavillers say what 
they will, is that of the Yemen, commonly entitled " Mokha," 
from the main place of exportation. Now I should be sorry 
to incur a lawsuit for libel or defamation from our wholesale 
or retail salesmen ; but were the particle not prefixed to the 
countless labels in London shop-windows that bear the name 
of the Red Sea haven, they would have a more truthy import 
than what at present they convey. Very little, so little indeed 
as to be quite inappreciable, of the Mocha or Yemen berry ever 
finds its way westward of Constantinople. Arabia itself, Syria, 
and Egypt consume fully two-thirds, and the remainder is almost 
exclusively absorbed by Turkish and Armenian oesophagi. Nor 
do these last get for their limited share the best or the purest. 
Before reaching the harbours of Alexandria, Jaffa, Beyrouth, 
&c, for further exportation, the Mokhan bales have been, while 
yet on their way, sifted and resifted, grain by grain, and what- 
ever they may have contained of the hard, rounded, half-trans- 
parent, greenish-brown berry, the only one really worth roasting 
and pounding, has been carefully picked out by experienced 
fingers; and it is the less generous residue of flattened, opaque, 
and whitish grains which alone, or almost alone, goes on board 

s 



258 Ri'ad [Chap. VIII 

the shipping. So constant is this selecting process, that a gra- 
dation regular as the degrees on a map may be observed in the 
quality of Mokha, that is, Yemen, coffee even within the limits 
of Arabia itself, in proportion as one approaches to or recedes 
from Wadi Nejran and the neighbourhood of Mecca, the first 
stages of the radiating mart. I have myself been times out of 
number an eyewitness of this sifting; the operation is performed 
with the utmost seriousness and scrupulous exactness, reminding 
me of the diligence ascribed to American diamond-searchers, 
when scrutinising the torrent sands for their minute but pre- 
cious treasure. 

The berry, thus qualified for foreign use, quits its native land 
on three main lines of export — that of the Red Sea, that of the 
Inner Hejaz, and that of Kaseem. The terminus of the first 
line is Egypt, of the second Syria, of the third Nejed and Sho- 
mer. Hence Egypt and Syria are, of all countries without the 
frontiers of Arabia, the best supplied with its specific produce, 
though under the restrictions already stated; and through Alex- 
andria or the Syrian seaports Constantinople and the North 
obtain their diminished share. But this last stage of transport 
seldom conveys the genuine article, except by the intervention 
of private arrangements and personal friendship or interest. 
Where mere sale and traffic are concerned, substitution of an 
inferior quality, or an adulteration almost equivalent to substi- 
tution, frequently takes place in the different storehouses of the 
coast, till whatever Mokha-marked coffee leaves them for Eu- 
rope and the West, is often no more like the real offspring of 
the Yemen plant than the logwood preparations of a London 
fourth-rate retail wine-seller resemble the pure libations of an 
Oporto vineyard. 

The second species of coffee, by some preferred to that of 
Yemen, but in my poor opinion inferior to it, is the growth of 
Abyssinia; its berry is larger, and of a somewhat different and a 
less heating flavour. It is, however, an excellent species ; and 
whenever the rich land that bears it shall be permitted by man 
to enjoy the benefits of her natural fertility, it will probably 
become an object of extensive cultivation and commerce. 
With this stops, at least in European opinion and taste, the 
list of coffee, and begins the list of beans. 

Here first and foremost stands the produce of India, with a 



Chap, viii] The Capital of Nejed 259 

little, similar to it in every respect, from the plantations of 
'Oman. This class supplies almost all coffee-drinkers, from the 
neighbourhood of Pafar to Basrah, and thence up to Bagdad 
and Mosoul; Arabs, Persians, Turks, Curdes, be they who they 
may, have there no other beverage. To one unaccustomed to 
what Yemen supplies, the Indian variety may seem tolerable, or 
even agreeable. But without any affectation of virtuoso nicety, 
I must say that for one fresh arrived from Nejed and Kaseem 
it is hardly potable. The distorted anctirregular form of the 
berry, its blackish stain, and above all the absence of the 
semi-transparent alabaster-like appearance peculiar to the 
good Yemanite variety, renders the difference between the two 
kinds appreciable to the unassisted eye, not only to the 
palate. 

It is possible that time and care may eventually render 
Indian coffee almost a rival of the Yemen, or at least of the 
Abyssinian. Hitherto it certainly is not, though it might be 
hard to say to what particular causes, inherent in soil, climate, 
or cultivation, its inferiority is ascribable. 

American coffee holds, in the judgment of all Orientals, the 
very last rank ; and the deterioration of this product in the 
New World from what it is in the Old, is no less remarkable 
than that observed in rice, tea, &c, and is of an analogous 
character. 

Of Batavian coffee I purposely say nothing, having never to 
my knowledge tasted it. I heat it sometimes praised, but by 
Europeans ; Orientals never mentioned it before me, perhaps 
they confounded it with the Indian. 

While we were yet in the Djowf, I described with sufficient 
minuteness how the berry is prepared for actual use; nor is the 
process any way varied in Nejed or other Arab lands. But in 
Nejed an additional spicing of saffron, cloves, and the like, 
is still more common; a fact which is easily explained by the 
want of what stimulus tobacco affords elsewhere. A second 
consequence of non-smoking among the Arabs is the increased 
strength of their coffee decoctions in Nejed, and the prodi- 
gious frequency of their use ; to which we must add the larger 
"fmjans," or coffee-cups, here in fashion. So sure are men, 
when debarred of one pleasure or excitement, to make it up by 
another. 

s 2 




260 RVad [Chap. VIII 

As for us, installed in the manner already described, and with 
a month and more of quiet residence before us, we assorted 
our domestic arrangements, and agreed on a sort of division of 
labour. Aboo-'Eysa was to keep up what I may call our foreign 
relations, to bring us news from court, put the great ones there 
into good humour with us, and give us everywhere a first-rate 
medical reputation. Barakat was to do the household work, 
purchase daily necessaries, cook when occasion required it — ■ 
all, in short, except the coffee department, which Aboo-'Eysa 
reserved to himself. For myself, I was to be the great and 
learned JEsculapius, pound medicines, treat the cases, " look 
wiser than any man could possibly be," like Lord Thurlow, 
and talk correspondingly. 

Certainly we had not to complain of want of occupation. Eut 
before introducing the motley crowd that besieges our door, 
or unravelling the threads of the strange intrigues which ran 
through this period of our travelling life like the underplot of a 
novel, and ended, novel-like, in a wild catastrophe, let us take 
a morning stroll through the town, and obtain thereby a general 
knowledge of Ri'ad and its inhabitants. 

It is about sunrise ; little folks like ourselves are up and 
stirring, and great ones, like the king and his court, have lain 
down to sleep. What ! to sleep % Even so ; for having all in 
Wahhabee devoutness risen by starlight to anticipate congre- 
gational morning prayers, with private protestations and Coranic 
readings to their hearts' content, and having next assisted at 
the protracted ceremonies of matutinal worship, drawled out to 
a most intolerable length by some sour-looking " Zelator " or 
" Metow'waa' " (my readers are by this time familiar with these 
terms), they have now turned in again for a subsidiary nap of 
about two hours, till a suitable elevation of the sun in the 
forenoon shall reawake them to the supererogatory prayers of 
Dhoha, and then to daily life. However, the less dignified or 
less devout, like ourselves, are up and about their business, 
enjoying too the cool air, for the sun's first rays are tempered 
by a light mist, habitual in this valley during the winter half of 
the year. 

We wish to buy dates, onions, and butter — all three first-rate 
articles in the 'Aared. Dates are here of many varieties ; the 
ed ones are the best but certain long yellow dates, without 



Chap viii] The Capital of Nejed 261 

kernelsj.ji.re particularly cheap and of good flavour. As for the 
onions of 'Aared, I never saw the like elsewhere, either for size 
or quality. Pity that the angels of Islam do not agree with 
me in approving them; hence good Wahhabees can only eat 
onions with the precaution of careful mouth-rinsing and hand- 
washing afterwards, especially if prayer-time be near, lest the 
odour — not of sanctity — should compel the guardian spirits 
to keep their distance, and thus leave the^vorshippers to un- 
assisted and defective devotions. Luckily soap or potash is 
in plenty, and besides there are here many not good Wah- 
habees, and we are of their number. Butter is whitish, and 
sold in the form of small round cakes, much as in Kaseem; 
my Indian readers will not require the remark that this delicacy 
has to be constantly kept in water to prevent its melting. 

We wrap our head-gear, like true Arabs, round our chins, 
put on our grave-looking black cloaks, take each a long stick 
in hand, and thread the narrow streets intermediate between 
our house and the market-place at a funeral pace, and speaking 
in an undertone. Those whom we meet salute us, or we salute 
them ; be it known that the lesser number should always be the 
first to salute the greater, he who rides him who walks, he 
who walks him who stands, the stander the sitter, and so forth ; 
but never should a man salute a woman ; difference of age or 
even of rank between men does not enter into the general rules 
touching the priority of salutation. If those whom we have 
accosted happen to be acquaintances or patients, or should 
they belong to the latitudinarian school, our salutation is duly 
returned. But if, by ill fortune, they appertain to the strict 
and high orthodox party, an under-look with a half-scowl in 
silence is their only answer to our greeting. Whereat we smile, 
Malvolio-like, and pass on. 

At last we reach the market-place; it is full of women and 
peasants, selling exactly what we want to buy, besides meat, 
firewood, milk, &c. &c. ; around are customers, come on errands 
like our own. We single out a tempting basket of dates, and 
begin haggling with the unbeautiful Phyllis, seated beside her 
rural store. We find the price tfeo high. " By Him who 
protects Feysul," answers she, "I ark the loser at that price." 
We insist. " By Him who shall grant Feysul a long life, I 
cannot bate it," she replies. We have nothing to oppose to 



(rid£* 



262 Ri'ad [Chap, viii 

such tremendous asseverations, and accede or pass on, as the 
case may be. 

Half of the shops, namely, those containing grocery, house- 
hold articles of use, shoemakers' stalls and smithies, are already 
open and busily thronged. For the capital of a strongly cen- 
tralized empire is always full of strangers, come will they nill 
they on their several affairs. But around the butchers' shops 
awaits the greatest human and canine crowd : my readers, I 
doubt not, know that the only licensed scavengers throughout 
the East are the dogs. Nej deans are great flesh- eaters, and no 
wonder, considering the cheapness of meat (a fine fat sheep 
costs at most five shillings, often less), and the keenness of 
mountaineer appetites. I wish that the police regulations of 
the city would enforce a little more cleanliness about these 
numerous shambles ; every refuse is left to cumber the ground 
at scarce two yards' distance. But dogs and dry air much 
alleviate the nuisance — a remark I made before at Ha'yel and 
Bereydah; it holds true for all Central Arabia. 

But before we pursue our walk, let us consider a little more 
closely the personages now gathered on the space frowned over 
by the high castle-walls, and limited by the massive colonnade 
of Feysul's secret gallery, and the shops and houses which com- 
plete the irregular square. Some townsmen of good appearance 
are already present, nor does their outer semblance much differ 
from the wont of Shomer or Kaseem, except by a greater sim- 
plicity of dress and a somewhat lower stature and duskier 
complexion. Perhaps the general absence of the long " love- 
locks," so general in the two districts above mentioned, is the 
most remarkable feature of diversity. But there are many 
strangers here too, and some hardly less foreigners than our- 
selves. That slender and swarthy form, clad in a saffron-dyed 
vest of a closer cut than the ample Nej dean shirt, with a 
crooked dagger at his girdle, and a short yellow stick in his 
hand, is a native of the outskirts of 'Oman, a land with which the 
Wahhabees have now not unfrequent nor always friendly doings. 
That other in a party-coloured overdress, with a large blue 
turban fringed red and yellow, overshadowing a cast of features 
totally unlike those of Central Arabia, and somewhat verging on 
the Persian or the Indian type, is an inhabitant of Bahreyn ; 
commerce or tribute has dragged him here, sore against his 



Chap, viii] The Capital of Nejed 263 

will ; for, like his 'Omanite brother, with whom he appears on 
terms of great familiarity, he is only thinking how to make the 
best of a bad bargain, and then get away faster than he came. 
The servants of our friend the Na'ib, with their rakish Bagdad 
air, and the wrinkled ill-tempered Meccans, may be easily dis- 
tinguished in the crowd. But here comes a procession ; it is a 
great man from Medinah, detesting and detested by all around, 
who, with his numerous attendants richly cla<J, himself rustling 
in silk and embroidery, has found his way^tef Ri'ad on business 
of high import ; perhaps to intercede, but in vain, for his friends 
in 'Oneyzah, perhaps to concert some wicked scheme in the 
Wahhabee interest for the downfall of the present Shereef. Be 
that as it may, all frown at him, and he frowns at all : I know 
not on which side is the deeper contempt and hatred. 

Close by I see a tall slender figure, remarkably handsome, 
and clad in a not inelegant though unadorned dress. It is 
Rafia', one of the Sedeyree family, a chief esteemed alike for 
courage in war and for prudence in peace ; but now, like all 
his relatives, under an official cloud, because belonging to the 
too-national party of the province, and suspected of a want 
of sincere attachment to the 'Aared dynasty. Possibly these 
suspicions are not wholly out of place ; and were it known at 
court, as it is, though under the rose, to Aboo-'Eysa and myself, 
that those thin lips not unfrequently inhale a certain smoke of 
American origin, Rafia' would, I fear, be held for even worse 
than he is at present. Territorial disputes furnish the pretext 
of his presence here; the desire of his kinsman 'Abd-el-Mahsin- 
es-Sedeyree to find out what chance he has of being reinstated 
in his ancestral authority, is the real but hidden motive. 

Then pushes along through the crowd, dragging his cloak 
with Bedouin carelessness on the ground till its lower edge 
becomes an irregular fringe of torn thread, a chief of 'Oteybah 
or Ajman. Formerly masters, one of Western, the other of 
Eastern Nejed, during the anarchy which followed the Egyptian 
war, these tribes were the first to feel the sword of 'Abd- Allah, 
son of Feysul, and after counting their slaughtered warriors by 
hundreds, and their plundered camels by thousands, reluctantly 
assumed the semblance of compliance and the reality of sub- 
mission. Now compelled, like Pope's ghosts, to haunt the 
places where their freedom died, they pay melancholy visits to 



264 RVad [Chap. VIII 

Ri'ad, and loiter for months together in the streets, awaiting an 
audience of their " Uncle " Feysul, who gives them to drink full 
draughts from the bitter cup of contempt and conquest. — Va 
victis in Arabia and all over the world. 

Amid the rabble are many other elements, exotic to Ri'ad, 
though never wholly absent from it. Camel drivers from Zul- 
phah, who in their frequent intercourse with Zobeyr and Basrah 
have alloyed Wahhabee gravity and Nejdean decency with the 
devil-may-care way of those ambiguous lands half Shiya'ee, 
half infidel ; some ill-conditioned youth, who having run away 
from his father or the Metow'waa' at Ri'ad, has awhile sought 
liberty and fortune among the sailors of Koweyt or Taroot, and 
returned with morals and manners worthy of Wapping or Ports- 
mouth; some thin Yemanee pedlar, come up by Wadi Nejran 
and Dowasir to slip quietly in and out through the streets of 
the capital and laugh at all he sees ; perhaps some Belooch or 
Candahar darweesh, like those who accompanied us a month 
ago to Bereydah, and who here awaits companions with whom 
to cross the eastern arm of the desert on his way to the Per- 
sian Gulf; mixed with these, the beggars of Dowasir, more 
fanatic, more viciously ill-tempered, and more narrow in heart 
and head than the men of 'Aared themselves, with the addition 
of a laziness, meanness, and avarice quite their own; close by, 
some young, lean, consumptive-looking student, who, cursed 
with a genius, has come to study at Ri'ad, where he lives on 
the Coran and the scanty alms of the palace ; his head full of 
true orthodox learning, and his belly empty or nearly so ; and 
others less significant, each on " his business and desire, such 
as it is," might an Arab Hamlet say. 

Barakat and I resolved on continuing our walk through the 
town. Ri'ad is divided into four quarters : one the north-east- 
ern, to which the palaces of the royal family, the houses of the 
state officers, and the richer class of proprietors and govern- 
ment men belong. Here the dwellings are in general high, 
and the streets tolerably straight and not over-narrow; but the 
ground level is low, and it is perhaps the least healthy locality 
of all. Next the north-western, where we are lodged ; a large 
irregular mass of houses, varying in size and keeping from the 
best to the worst ; here strangers, and often certain equivocal 
characters, never wanting in large towns, however strictly regu- 



Chap, viii] The Capital of Nejed 265 

lated, chiefly abide ; here too are many noted for disaffection, 
and harbouring other tenets than those of the son of 'Abd-el- 
Wahhab, men prone to old Arab ways and customs in " Church 
and State," to borrow our own analogous phrase; here are 
country chiefs, here Bedouins and natives of Zulphah and the 
outskirts find a lodging ; here, if anywhere, is tobacco smoked 
or sold, and the Coran neglected in proportion. However, I 
would not have my readers to think our g^&e neighbourhood 
so absolutely disreputable. Even here certain virtuous Metow'- 
waa's and holy Zelators shine like lights in a dark place, and 
serve for good examples or spies among a population highly 
edified, no doubt, by the very virtue that it has not the courage 
to imitate. 

But we gladly turn away our eyes from so dreary a view to 
refresh them by a survey of the south-western quarter, the 
chosen abode of formalism and orthodoxy. In this section of 
Ri'ad inhabit the most zealous Metow'waa's, the most energetic 
Zelators, here ate the most irreproachable five-pray ers-a-d ay 
Nej deans, and all. the flower of Wahhabee purity. Above all, 
here dwell the principal survivors of the family of the great 
religious Founder, the posterity of 'Abd-el-Wahhab escaped 
from the Egyptian sword, and free from every stain of foreign 
contamination. Mosques of primitive simplicity and ample 
space, where the grea^ dogma, not however confined to Ri'ad, 
that "we are exactly h| the right, and every one else is in the 
wrong," is daily inculcated to crowds of auditors, overjoyed to 
find Paradise all theirs abd none's but theirs ; smaller oratories 
or Musallas, wells for ablution, and Ca'abah-directed niches 
adorn every corner, and fill up every interval of house or 
orchard. The streets of this quarter are open, and the air 
healthy, so that the invisible blessing is seconded by sensible 
and visible privileges of Providence. Think not, gentle reader, 
that I am indulging in gratuitous or self-invented irony ; I am 
only rendering expression for expression, and almost word for 
word, the talk of true Wahhabees, when describing the model 
quarter of their model city. This section of the town is spacious 
and well-peopled, and flourishes, the citadel of national and 
religious intolerance, pious pride, and genuine Wahhabeeism. 

Lastly, the south-eastern quarter, entitled the " Khazik ;" it 
is also large, and more thickly inhabited than any other, but 



266 Ri'ad 



ichap. vnr 



deficient in individuals of note and wealth; here the lower 
classes of the population find in general their abode, and pea- 
sants and other incomers from the surrounding villages their 
lodging. This is naturally the worst built and worst kept part 
of the town, the ground is too low, and the air not healthy ; I 
was told that the ravages of the cholera here in 1854-5 were 
fearful, and can well believe it. 

There is no distinct separation otherwise than by broad 
streets between these several quarters, no gates, no wall of 
division. However, each is really considered as a municipal 
whole — " circle," Parisians might call it (a clumsy denomina- 
tion, because it implies continual interstices or intersections) — 
and each one has its own name, but I have forgotten those 
given to the first three sections. The word " Khazik," applied 
to the fourth, signifies " crowded" or " stifling." In the second 
and fourth quarters we meet with hardly any house-enclosed 
gardens or orchards ; a few occur in the first, and more in the 
third; but the general rule of Nejed that the gardens should 
be for the most part without the town-circuit, holds good in 
Ri'ad also. 

The junction-point or centre in which these divisions meet 
and intersect is the market-place, with the royal palace ad- 
joining it on one side, and the great mosque or Djamia' on the 
other ; this word Djamia' means, literally, " collecting " or 
" uniting," because here attends the great concourse of Friday 
worshippers to the full and official performance of public ser- 
vice, elsewhere somewhat curtailed. Hence, too, Friday itself 
is called " Djema'," i. e. " collection." In no Nejdean town ij 
there more than one authentic Djamia' ; the other places of 
prayer are entitled " Mesjids," or, if small, " Musallas." In this 
point they conform themselves better than other Mahometans 
to the tradition of the Prophet, who would never have ap- 
proved the multiplication of Djamia's, customary in Syria, Egypt, 
Turkey, &c. The Djamia' of Ri'ad is a large flat-roofed par- 
allelogram, supported on square wooden pillars thickly coated 
with earth; the building is low, and has no pretensions to archi- 
tectural beauty. Barakat and myself calculated the space between 
the long rows of columns, and found that it could contain above 
two thousand individuals at a time; and an equal number can 
without difficulty find their place within the open courtyard in 



Chap, viii] The Capital of Nejed 267 

front. Mahometans when at prayer leave a considerable space 
between their ranks to allow room for prostration without 
striking their heads on the heels of the row before them. 
Hence my readers may conclude the size of this huge but inele- 
gant construction. Tower or " Ma'dinah " (Minaret, we gene- 
rally call it) there is none ; but in its stead a small platform 
slightly raised from the roof-level; above the Mihrab, or station 
allotted to the Imam at time of prayers,^stands on the roof a 
sort of closet or small apartment, into which old Feysul finds 
admittance on Fridays by the covered gallery before described, 
and acts invisible Imam to the assembly below. No mats or 
carpets; reason why — Mahomet and his companions the Sah- 
habah did not employ such; in compensation, the ground is 
strewed with small pebbles, needlessly annoying to the shin- 
bones and knees of the faithful. 

Besides this great mosque, the principal one in the town, 
there are thirty or more small ones, or Mesjids, in the different 
quarters, some of them of spacious dimensions, especially that 
wherein the Kadee 'Abd-el-Lateef ordinarily acts as Imam, and 
that which is honoured by the daily presence of 'Abd-Allah, the 
heir-apparent. This latter edifice is in the first quarter of the 
city, the other in the third ; both attract attention by their size 
and neatness, but are, like the rest, perfectly unadorned. In each 
and all the names of those whom vicinity obliges to attendance 
are read over morning and evening ; a muster-call, the better 
to ensure presence and detect defaulters. The " voluntary 
system " has few partisans in Ri'ad. 

Round the whole town run the walls, varying from twenty 
to thirty feet in height ; they are strong, in good repair, and 
defended by a deep trench and embankment. Beyond them 
are the gardens, much similar to those of Kaseem, both in 
arrangement and produce, despite the difference of latitude, 
here compensated by a higher ground level. But immediately 
to the south, in Yemamah, the eye remarks a change in the 
vegetation to a more tropical aspect; of this, however, I will 
not say more for the present. 

A striking feature in this southerly slope of the central 
plateau, is the much greater abundance of water here than on 
its northern terrace in Sedeyr. This comparative moisture of 
the soil arid of the atmosphere, the latter being, in fact, a con- 




268 RVad [Chap, vm 

sequence of the former, is first perceptible about Horeymelah, 
whence it increases progressively southward, till it attains its 
maximum in the Yemamah ; farther on towards Hareek and 
Dowasir it again diminishes, partly, I suppose, from the grow- 
ing distance from the mountainous district, partly from the 
vicinity of the Great Desert and its arid heat. 

I have already mentioned the frequency of butchers' shops 
in the market. The Nejdean breed of sheep is well known and 
much esteemed, even beyond the limits of Arabia. This is 
natural, for good and copibus pasture, with a fairly temperate 
climate, render Nejed a land eminently adapted to the propa- 
gation and perfection of the species. However in the judgment 
of many, amongst whom I myself am one, they are inferior as 
an article of food to the sheep of Diar-Bekr and the frontiers of 
Curdistan. In the market of Damascus, whither they some- 
times find their way, they fetch a high, but not the highest price. 
Their wool is remarkably fine, almost equalling that of Cache- 
mire in softness and delicacy. I need hardly say that they are 
broad-tailed; all Arab sheep are so more or less. Were Arabia 
in the enjoyment of circumstances more favourable to commerce 
and what else accompanies it, half the Turkish empire might 
hence alone be supplied with wool and mutton ; the proportion 
of pasture land in this country almost equalling the arable and 
the unreclaimable desert taken together. But the difficulty of 
exportation from the centre across the frontiers is naturally great, 
and has been rendered yet more so artificially, I mean by mis- 
government or by careless indolence. 

Camels abound ; it is a " wilderness of camels." The breed 
here resembles in the main that of Shomer ; but the colour, 
; there most often between red and yellow, is in Nejed generally 
white or grey ; black is rare everywhere. The stature, too, of 
the Nejdean camel is somewhat slimmer and smaller than the 
northern, and the hair is finer. They are cheaper in proportion 
than sheep ; twenty-five to thirty shillings is an average camel- 
price; not much for so powerful an animal. Dromedaries 
begin to grow frequent ; but of them more anon. 

Oxen and kine are much more common in Nejed than in the 
northerly provinces ; in Yemamah they abound, and are not 
rare, as I was told, in Wadi Dowasir. These beasts are gene- 
rally small-limbed, but always furnished with the hump of 



Chap, viii] The Capital of Nejed 269 

their Indian compeers, though less fortunate than they in 
attracting respect or adoration. The prevailing colour is dun. 
Buffaloes are unknown in Central Arabia. 

Game, both small and great, feathered or quadruped, is 
plenty throughout all this district, but is seldom hunted. 
Partridges, quails, Kata (a variety of the partridge kind), and 
pigeons, are to be met with everywhere ; and I heard of, but did 
not see, the Kalam, a kind of bustard ; I have myself seen and 
shot this bird in the neighbourhood o^Rajcote. But small 
shot have never been introduced into Nejed; anej to bring 
down a bird on the wing surpasses the skill of most Afeb marks- 
men ; besides, matchlocks and bullets are ill adaptedlto quail 
or partridge shooting. There are no ostriches in the uplands 
of Toweyk. Of gazelles, numerous here even more than else- 
where, I have spoken already, nor did I see or hear of any 
other variety of the deer species. Nor are gazelles much hunted, 
unless by some chance Solibah. Wild boars and pigs are fre- 
quent in the mountain ; needs- hardly say that these animals 
are here of no greater use than ornament. Only their tusks are 
sometimes converted, but beyond the limits of Wahhabee lands, 
into queer snuff-boxes, and sometimes into pipes, a twofold 
abomination. But even a Solibah would not touch the flesh of 
the unclean animal, little more in favour with Eastern Christians 
than with Mahometans themselves, except where Europeans 
have by their example, accustomed a small number of indivi- 
duals to consider it a lawful luxury. 

My readers must certainly be desirous to learn something 
about the horse in Central Arabia ; the more so that Nejdean 
horses are to Arab horses in general what Arab horses are to 
those of other countries. And besides, what Englishman would 
esteem worthy his perusal a work on Arabia which should not 
contain at least half-a-dozen pages on this subject 1 I am equally 
desirous of mounting with all speed what I confess to be my own 
hobby; but I must awhile moderate my reader's impatience and 
my own, and we will wait together till dawns the happy day 
when we may visit the royal Ri'ad stables, and at leisure survey 
the " creme de la creme " of the race ; and then all who care 
shall have free admittance in my company. 

And now from this incidental mention of horses, the noblest 
of the animal tribes, let us make an onward step to man, and 



270 Ri'ad [Chap. VIII 

add a few words regarding the general character and the 
principal elements of the population of Ri'ad itself and of 
the surrounding districts. For fine buildings and gardens, wild 
animals or domestic, valleys and mountains, do not make a 
country; " el beled bi' ahlihi," " a land is to be estimated after 
its indwellers," says a trite Arab proverb; and the chief game 
to an enquiring mind, though in another sense than that of 
Nimrod, is man. Or, to borrow the not inelegant lines of an 
Eastern poet — lines which may recall to some readers one of 
Heinrich Heine's most perfect epigrams : — 

I pass along by the dear dwelling, the dwelling of Leyla, 

And I bestow a kiss first on this wall and then on that ; 

Yet think not that the dwelling-place itself is the object of my love : 

The object of my love is She who inhabits the dwelling. 

We will observe a due gradation in this important matter, and 
accordingly begin from the lowest in the human scale — its 
negro type. 

Throughout Arabia we had frequently met with negroes — in 
Djowf, Shomer, Kaseem, and Sedeyr. But we had only met 
with them in the condition of slaves, and rarely in other than 
in the wealthier households, where these Africans were living, 
contented indeed and happy, fat and shining, but invariably 
under servitude, and in consequence entitled to no share in 
the political, or even in the civil, scheme of Arab society. 
Similar is their condition throughout Nejed itself so far as 
'Aared. But here a change takes place ; not only are negro 
slaves much more numerous than in the north, but even a 
distinct and free population of African origin comes into 
existence, along with its unfailing accompaniment of mulatto 
half-castes, till at last they form together a quarter, sometimes 
a third, of the sum total of inhabitants. Ri'ad abounds with 
them, Manfoohah and Selemee'yah yet more, while they swarm 
in the Hareek, Wadi Dowasir, and their vicinity. This is the 
result of several causes: firstly, the nearness of the great slave- 
marts, whether on the eastern or on the western coast, like 
Djiddah in Hejaz, and the numerous seaports of 'Oman on the 
other side; nor is this a nearness of space only, but of con- 
necting routes, intercourse, and commerce. Hence the first 
draught of slaves to Central Arabia, whether from the starting- 



Chap, vni] The Capital T of Nejed 271 

point of Mecca or from that of Hofhoof, passes directly through 
'Aared, and many of them find a master here without going 
any farther. Alongside of this cause, and dependent on it, is 
the comparative cheapness of price : a negro here fetches from 
seven to ten pounds English in value; at lia'yel or the Djowf 
it would be thirteen or fourteen. The climate also of Southern 
Nejed, which exhibits a certain similarity to the African, ren- 
ders this part of Arabia more suited to negro habits and con- 
stitutions than are the high lands of Toweyk or Shomer, and 
thus contributes to their multiplication. Lastly, there exists 
in the indigenous population itself a certain bent of character 
inclining to sympathy with the dusky races ; this originates in 
a fact of extensive historical and ethnological bearing, and 
meriting more elucidation than my present limits allow. 

The number of negro slaves in these provinces gives rise to 
a second stage of existence for the black, common in the East, 
though not equally compatible with his condition in the far 
West. I mean that not of emancipation only, but of social 
equality also, with those around him — not by Act of Parlia- 
ment or of Congress, but by individual will and public feeling. 
Nothing is more common for a Mahometan, but above all for an 
Arab, whether Mahometan or not, than to emancipate his slaves, 
sometimes during his own lifetime, on occasion of some good 
success of a religious obligation, of a special service rendered, 
nay often out of sheer good will, and sometimes on his death-bed, 
when he often strives to ensure a favourable reception in the 
next world by an act of generous humanity (at his heir's expense) 
done at the moment of quitting this. Another cause in opera- 
tion is one readily imagined in a land where morals are lax, 
and legal restraint on this point yet laxer — I mean the univer- 
sality of concubinage between the master and his female slave. 
In Nejed, at least, the boys sprung from this union are free- 
born, and so, I believe, are the girls, at least in the eye of 
the law. 

These new possessors of civil liberty soon marry and are 
given in marriage. Now, although an emancipated negro or mu- 
latto is not at once admitted to the higher circles of aristocratic 
life, nor would an Arab chief of rank readily make over his 
daughter to a black, yet they are by no means under the ban 
of incapacity and exclusion which weighs on them among races 



272 RVad [Chap. VIII 

of English blood. Accordingly, negroes can without any diffi- 
culty give their sons and daughters to the middle or lower class 
of Arab families, and thus arises a new generation of mixed 
race, here denominated " Khodeyreeyah " or " Benoo-Kho- 
deyr," the which being interpreted means, " the Greens," or 
" the sons of the Green one.". My readers must not, however, 
suppose that mulatto flesh in Arabia is so literally grass as to 
bear its actual hue. The colours green, black, and brown, are 
habitually confounded in common Arabic parlance, though the 
difference between them is, of course, well known and main- 
tained in lexicons, or wherever accuracy of speech is aimed at. 
These "green ones," again, marry, multiply, and assume various 
tints, grass-green, emerald, opal, and the like ; or, in exacter 
phrase, brown, copper-coloured, olive, and what Americans call, 
I believe, yellow. Like their progenitors, they do not readily 
take their place among the nobles or upper ten thousand, how- 
ever they may end by doing even this in process of time ; and 
I have myself while in Arabia been honoured by the intimacy 
of more than one handsome " Green-man," with a silver-hilted 
sword at his side, and a rich dress on his dusky skin, but deno- 
minated Sheykh or Emeer, and humbly sued by Arabs of the 
purest Ismaelitic or Kahtanic pedigree. Ki'ad is full of these 
Khodeyreeyah shopkeepers, merchants, and officers of govern- 
ment ; and I must add that their desire, common to all par- 
venus, of aping the high ton and ruling fashion, makes them at 
times the most bigoted and disagreeable Wahhabees in the city; 
a tendency which is the more fostered by hereditary narrowness 
of intellect. 

Thus in Central Nejed society presents a new element per- 
vading it from its highest to its lowest grades. Another pecu- 
liarity, not physical indeed, but moral, offers itself in the cha- 
racter of the indigenous population, taken apart from the 
embellishment or distortion caused by religious tenets. Not 
only as a Wahhabee, but equally as a Nejdean, does the native 
of 'Aared, Aflaj, Yemamah, Hareek, and Dowasir, differ, and 
that widely, from his fellow- Arab of Shomer and Kaseem, nay, 
of Woshem and Sedeyr. The cause of this difference is much 
more ancient than the epoch of the great Wahhabee, and must 
be sought first and foremost in the pedigree itself. The descent 
claimed by the indigenous Arabs of this region is from the family 



Chap, viii] The Capital of Nejed 273 

of Tameen, a name peculiar to these lands, but very familiar to 
Arab ears, and of frequent occurrence in prose and verse. Now 
Benoo-Tameem have been in all ages distinguished from other 
Arabs by strongly-drawn lines of character, the object of the 
exaggerated praise and of the biting satire of native poets. 
Good or bad, these characteristics, described some thousand 
years ago, are identical with the portrait of their real or pre- 
tended descendants. " Do you wonder at t^£ men of 'Aared 1 " 
said a man of Hasa in reply to my unfavourable comments on 
Ri'ad and its people ; " surely you cannot have forgotten that 
they are Benoo-Tameem ? " Much less spirited, less profusely 
generous, less prone to movement and hazardous enterprise, 
less cheerful and open too than the majority of Arab clans, 
they were known as more persevering, more united, more pru- 
dent; sparing of words, not easily roused nor quick to manifest 
their feelings, but firm of purpose, terrible in revenge, deep and 
implacable haters, and doubtful friends to all save their own 
immediate kindred. Their very expression of feature, reserved, 
often contracted, gloomy, or at best serious, contrasts strangely 
with the frank and pleasing faces of the northerly tribes, while 
it implies greater capacity for rule, organization, and, no less, 
oppression. Acting far more than any other Arabs on system, 
and less on impulse, of a narrower but a more concentrated 
frame of intellect and will, their union and perseverance are 
morally sure to triumph in the long run over their disunited and 
desultory neighbours, and the Nejdean empire necessarily tends 
to absorb or crush the greater part of the Peninsula, perhaps at 
no distant period. This same type stamps all their words and 
ways, even in house-life and in market dealings. 

Along with this un amiable cast of mind and temper goes a 
greater simplicity in dre-ss and in house ornament, the cutting- 
down of ringlets and the absence of ostentation in the use of 
wealth and goods. All this is simply natural to the men of 
'Aared and Yemamah, independent of Wahhabee puritanism, 
and the rigour of its code. But even this double rigour, innate 
and legal, cannot always prevent their immense pride from 
finding vent in gorgeous trappings and costly furniture, when 
the consciousness of absolute and domineering strength affords 
security in so doing. Fortunately for them, the number of those 
who can safely enjoy such exceptional privileges is small ; and 



274 RVad [Chap, vm 

the common routine is one of moderation, approaching to 
austerity. 

The Nejdean of these provinces is essentially agriculturist or 
shepherd. Woshem, indeed, and the north of Sedeyr, have 
something more of a commercial character, which in an Arab 
implies a love of travel and no reluctance to a temporary change 
of his native land for foreign scenes. But the men of Sedeyr 
from Toweym southwards, of 'Aared, Yemamah, Aflaj, and 
Dowasir, are very rarely seen on trading business beyond the 
narrow circle of their own provinces. The commerce furnished 
by Ri'ad and the other great Nejdean centres of population is 
in its active part abandoned to foreigners. The born Nejdean 
(with exception of the natives of Hareek) does indeed keep his 
storehouse, but will not go in quest of what to store it withal. 

On the contrary, agriculture and gardening are much in 
vogue. Everyone owns his little plot of ground, whence he 
derives his own chief maintenance and that of his family; the 
monarch himself is not exempt from this law, for a consider- 
able portion of the royal revenue is invested in plantations 
and fields. Nor are Nejdeans contemptible cultivators; the 
copious produce of their palm-trees, and of their corn or maize 
grounds, attests not perhaps theoretical but certainly practical 
skill. True, the plough is of very simple construction, but a 
light soil and a mild climate do not exact the hard stress and 
deep furrows which demand the more complicated instrument 
of the north. A rough hurdle answers all the purposes of an 
iron-toothed harrow, and a large shovel, often wooden, does 
the work of a spade. Irrigation is everywhere indispensable, 
no produce worthy of a husbandman can here thrive without 
it ; and I have already said that a little more mechanical art 
might be advantageously bestowed on their pulleys and buckets. 
However, considering the number and the wants of the popula- 
tion — both comparatively less than they would be in most parts 
of Europe over an equal space and under parallel circumstances 
— what they have suffices them; and the Nejdean, if not active, 
is far from lazy. 

Meanwhile another and a very different source of action and 
occupation has been opened, or at least enlarged and facilitated, 
by the present state of affairs. Nejdeans were ever prone to 
quarrel and war; their character, pourtrayed a few lines back, 



Chap, viii] The Capital of Nejed 275 

implies no less; and the motto "thou shalt want ere I want" 
is not so peculiar to the highlands of Scotia that it might not 
have been with fully equal propriety blazoned on many an 
escutcheon in the highlands of Nejed. But so long as their 
feuds and forays, wars and plunder, were bounded by the 
ranges of Toweyk, there was little to gain or lose ; the poor 
pillaged the poor, and the beggar, to permit ; ourselves a vulgar 
allusion, sued the beggar. But now, amder the powerful 
dynasty of the Ebn-Sa'oods, the case has changed. War 
became henceforth methodical, and in consequence success- 
ful ; better still, it is directed, not against their needy fellow- 
Nej deans, but against the wealthy coast of Has a, the traders 
and the pearl-fishers of 'Oman, or to bring home the spoils of 
Mecca and Medinah, of Meshid-Hoseyn and Zobeyr. War is 
a lottery, and a lottery has more attractions than the plough 
and the spade ; but war attended by such circumstances, and 
presenting all the excitement of fanaticism, novelty, and rapa- 
city, could not fail to engross the public mind, while it supplied 
the public wants. From the first campaigns of Sa'ood-ebn- 
Sa'ood down to our own time, every man of 'Aared and her 
sister provinces looks on the sword as a foremost means of 
private and household subsistence no less than of public revenue 
and state acquirement ; and hence the whole current of Wah- 
habee being sets in a direction the very reverse of commerce, 
and not over favourable to agriculture. 

But I had almost forgotten that all this time we are walking 
about the capital or strolling in its gardens; the noonday sun 
is hot, and probably my companions are tired, and would like 
to return home, there to make a quiet meal off our dates and 
onions, and wash it down with three cups of coffee, such as, 
alas ! my reader is little likely to enjoy from Paris to Stamboul. 
We will now accordingly rest awhile, and after a short repose 
resume our interrupted tale, and amid the incidents of medical 
and professional life pourtray to the best of our abilities what 
yet remains for delineation of Ri'ad and of its inhabitants. 



T 2 



276 



CHAPTER IX 
Life at Ri'ad — The Wahhabee Dynasty. 

Turn we this globe, and let us see 
How different nations disagree 
In what we wear, or eat, or drink, 
Nay, Dick, perhaps, in what we think. 

Prior 

Our First Patient Djowhar — His Position, Character, and Influence — 
'Abd-el-Kereem — His History and Character — Visit to his House — An 
^Aared Dinner — Fumigation — His Family — Discussion on the Division 
of Sins in Mahometan Theology — Polytheism and Tobacco Smoking — 
Reasons alleged by^Abd-el-Kereem — Qualities of Arab Tobacco — ''Abd- 
el-Kereetrts Manoeuvres to avoid Payment — His Sermon — ''Abd-er- 
Rahman the Metow'waa? — His Rooms, Studies, and Pupils — Story of 
Mahomet at Damascus — Indignation of 'Abd-el-Hameed — ^Abd-el- 
Laleef the Wahhabee — His History and Character — Anecdote of Divine 
judgment on Tobacco Smokers — Mohammed, Brother of ' Abd-el-Lateef 
— Other Individuals — An Operation — Recovery of Djowhar — Our Posi- 
tion at the Palace — FeysuVs Old Age — His Family — Summary View of 
the Provinces of his Empire — Their Dispositions — ^Aaseer — Numerical 
Census — Revenue — Census of the Kingdom of Shomer — Its Revenue. 

According to promise, Aboo-'Eysa played his part to bring us 
in patients and customers, and the very second morning that 
dawned on us in our new house, ushered in an invalid who 
proved a very godsend. This was no other than Djowhar, trea- 
surer of Feysul, and of the Wahhabee empire. My readers 
may be startled to learn that this great functionary was jet-black, 
a negro, in fact, though not a slave, having obtained his free- 
dom from Turkee, the father of the present king. He was tall, 
and, for a negro, handsome, about forty-five years of age, 
splendidly dressed, a point never neglected by wealthy Africans, 
whatever be their theoretical creed, and girt with a golden- 



Chap, ix] Wahhabee Patients 277 

hiked sword. But, said he, gold, though unlawful if forming a 
part of apparel or mere ornament, may be employed with a 
safe conscience in decorating weapons. Many preachers have, 
I believe, wasted time and eloquence in attempting to persuade 
the ladies to moderation in dress. I would gladly consent to 
see them try their chance with a congregation of upper-class 
negroes; what might be the result I know not, but certainly 
Gabriel and the Wahhabee have both made a complete failure 
in this respect. In all other points Djowriar was an excellent 
fellow, good-humoured, rather hot-tempered, but tractable and 
confiding, like most " people of his skin," in Arab phrase. 

The disease he was actually suffering under annoyed him 
much, especially as Feysul desired to send him without delay 
on a government errand to Bahreyn (where we afterwards met 
him), a business which his bad state of health rendered him 
wholly unfit for. Thus, bettering his condition might be almost 
looked on as a national service. Aboo-'Eysa, an old acquaint- 
ance and friend of the chief treasurer's, introduced him, and 
placed him in great dignity on a carpet spread in the courtyard, 
where, with two or three other individuals of wealth and im- 
portance, he seated himself beside the patient, and launched 
out into an eulogium of my medical skill which would have re- 
quired some qualification if applied to Cullen himself; but it 
served wonderfully to encourage Djowhar, and thus predispose 
him for a cure. 

After ceremonies and coffee, I took my dusky patient into 
the consulting room, where by dint of questioning and surmise, 
for negroes in general are much less clear and less to the point 
than Arabs in their statements, I obtained the requisite eluci- 
dation of his case. The malady, though painful, was fortunately 
one admitting of simple and efficacious treatment, so that I was 
able on the spot to promise him a sensible amendment of con- 
dition within a fortnight, and that in three weeks' time he should 
be in plight to undertake his journey to Bahreyn. I added 
that with so distinguished a personage I could not think of 
exacting a bargain and fixing the amount of fees ; the requital 
of my care should be left to his generosity. He then took 
leave, and was re-conducted to his rooms in the palace by his 
fellow-blacks of less degree. 

The next individual worthy of note whom we took in hand 



278 Life at Ri'ad [Chap, ix 

was of a very different stamp from Djowhar ; less pliable, less 
grateful, but in some respects even more to the purpose of our 
sojourn in Ri'ad. This was 'Abd-el-Kereem, son of Ibraheem, 
nearly allied by marriage with the great Wahhabee family, and 
claiming descent from the oldest nobility of 'Aared. Himself a 
bitter Wahhabee, and a model of all the orthodox vices of his 
sect, he had figured conspicuously in the first band of Zelators 
at the epoch of their foundation in 1855, and the cruel death of 
Soweylim, the late minister, was by popular rumour ascribed to 
this man's personal jealousy and private aims, thinly disguised 
under the mask of religious zeal. Other acts of the same der 
scription were attributed to him, and he had during a brief 
exercise of power become so universally unpopular, that his 
fellow-Zelators had been compelled to avail themselves of the 
pretext of his weak health to remove him from office. Honoured 
by those who considered him a victim of his own virtues, hated 
by ordinary mortals, he now led a retired life in the third quarter 
of the town, whence a chronic bronchitis, no uncommon ail- 
ment in this climate, brought him to our door. 

He presented himself with an air of cheerful modesty, and 
before stating his case entered, by way of introduction, into a 
discourse which proved him a master of Islamitic lore. Under 
our roof he affected a special tenderness for the Damascene 
school of doctrine, took care to remind us that the son of 'Abd- 
el-Wahhab had learned the true faith in the capital of Syria, 
and insinuated that we ourselves were doubtless of equal ortho- 
doxy and learning. It was a pleasure to converse with him on 
topics in which he was thoroughly at home, and a few en- 
comiums soon led him to instruct us on many points of Wahha- 
bee doctrine and manners. At last, from abstract, he descended 
to practical regions, and begged me to examine his chest. I 
prescribed what seemed requisite, and he took his leave, but 
not till after exacting a promise of our honouring his house with 
our presence at an early dinner next day. All this familiarity 
pleased yet alarmed Aboo-'Eysa. Pleased, because admittance 
to the domestic circle of so high a character in the orthodox 
world was, in common phrase, a feather in our cap, and a ticket 
of respectability elsewhere; and alarmed when he considered 
the treacherous and evil heart of our future host. Indeed, this 
latter feeling so far predominated, that he advised us not to 



Chap, ix] Wahhdbee Patients 279 

stand to our engagement ; but I did not think fit to comply 
with this over-cautious admonition. 

Next day, a little before noon, 'Abd-el-Kereem, in a long 
white robe, modest guise, and staff in hand, came to our abode 
in person, and claimed the fulfilment of our promise. We rose 
and accompanied him across the market-place and behind the 
palace, through neat streets where decorum and gravity were 
manifestly the order of the day, till we reached his dwelling. 
It was a large one ; he ushered us into^-fehe courtyard, and 
thence up a long flight of steps to the second storey, where we 
entered a handsome and well-lighted divan. Above its door was 
inscribed, in the large half-Cunc characters usual throughout 
Nejed, and, like all Nejdean inscriptions, simply painted not 
carved, the distich of the celebrated poet, 'Omar-ebn-el-Farid : — 

Welcome to him of whose approach I am all unworthy, 

Welcome to the voice announcing joy after lonely melancholy : 

Good i: tidings thine ; off with the ra&es of sadness ; for know 

Thou art-accepted, and I myself will take on me whatever grieves thee. 

Within the room sat Ibraheem, the aged father of our friend 
and master of the house, and with him another of his sons ; 
several books treating of law and divinity, sections of the Coran, 
and inkstands, with good supply of writing paper; some of 
these objects strewed on the divan, others inserted in the 
little triangular niches which represent bookcases in Arabia, 
announced a haunt of learning and study. 

Capital towns suppose more polished manners and greater 
elegance of life than elsewhere, nor does Wahhabee severity 
prevent Ri'ad from following the general rule. A very cour- 
teous greeting and honourable reception was made us by 
Ibraheem and his family, and one of the children brought in 
without delay a select dish of excellent dates, as a gage of good 
will and esteem. When in due time the dinner made its ap- 
pearance, after many excuses for its simplicity: — "You Damas- 
cenes would treat us better were we your guests, but Nejed is 
poor, the means want us, not the will," and the like — it in- 
cluded, among other delicacies, a dish which I was equally sur- 
prised and pleased to see, .because it was a clear indication of 
our approach to the eastern coast. But were my readers, even 
though of East Norfolk, to guess for an hour together what was 
this well-omened platter, they would hardly, I think, hit on 

\ 



2 8o Life at Ri y ad [Chap, ix 

dried shrimps, the article now before us. My Syrian com- 
panion did not know what to make of them ; for me, I wel- 
comed old friends, though under disadvantageous circumstances 
— less fresh and less correctly prepared than they might have 
been on the bonny banks of Yare. On enquiry,. I was informed 
that these delicacies formed a regular item of importation from 
Hasa, and that the fishery itself belonged to Bahreyn. But of 
the copious marine produce of that island nothing else arrives 
thus far ; possibly from want of skill in salting and curing. 

After dinner we washed our hands with potash or kalee 
(whence our own "alkali"), the ordinary cleanser of Nejed, 
and then took place the ceremony of fumigation. Not that 
we here underwent it for the first time, since even in Djebel 
Shomer it is sometimes practised, and in Sedeyr is of daily 
occurrence ; but I forgot to describe it before, and this may be 
a suitable occasion. Indeed, here, in orthodox 'Aared, per- 
fuming has scarcely less of a religious than of fr a genteel cha- 
racter, the Prophet having declared himself in express terms 
almost as much a lover of sweet odours as of women, wherein 
he left an example to be imitated by zealous followers. Ac- 
cordingly after meals, or even at the conclusion of a simple 
coffee-drinking visit, appears a small square box, with the upper 
part of its sides pierced filigree- wise, while its base offers a sort 
of stalk or handle, long enough to lay hold of without danger 
of burning one's fingers ; the apparatus is of baked clay, and 
looks much like an overgrown four-petaled flower. Above, it 
is filled with charcoal or live embers of Ithel, and on these are 
laid three or four small bits of sweet-scented wood, identical 
with that which in the last chapter bribed the ministry on our 
behalf ; or, in place of wood, fragments of benzoin incense, till 
the rich clammy smoke goes up as from a censer. Everyone 
now takes in turn the burning vase, passes it under his beard 
(which, I may remark, is generally but a scraggy one in Nejed), 
next lifts up one after another the corners of his head-gear or 
kerchief, to catch therein an abiding perfume, though at the 
risk of burning his ears if he be a new hand at the business, 
like myself ; and lastly, though not always, opens the breast of 
his shirt too, to give his inner man a whiff of sweet-smelling 
remembrance. For the odour is extremely tenacious, and may 
be perceived for hours after. Twice or thrice only did I see 
incense of the kind commonly employed in Europe brought 



Chap, ix] Wahhabee Patients 281 

in on these occasions ; imported, they said, from Hadramaut. 
But to return to our host. 

His father, old Ibraheem, could remember the Egyptian 
invasion and the siege of Derey'eeyah. He told us many tales 
regarding those events, of which he had been an eye-witness ; 
and the name of Aboo-Nokta was not unknown to our narrator, 
but he assigned much greater military prominence to another 
negro champion, entitled Harith, the hero, in Nejdean annals 
at least, of a single combat, Homeric fashion, with Ibraheem 
Basha himself. When the old man was on these topics, he 
kindled up, and looked as though he could swallow all the 
infidels on earth alive, nor do I suppose that he was in reality 
scant of courage ; cowardice is no fault of Nej deans. 

'Abd-el-Kereem continued to pay us almost daily visits, and 
we occasionally to return them, till his ailment was sufficiently 
relieved, and he had no further need of us. He was not, I 
think, " clear," to borrow a Quaker phrase, touching our ortho- 
doxy, and loved discussion ; but if ready to question, he was 
no less ready to expound and answer. 

During an intimate conversation, I enquired of him one day, 
what, according to the Wahhabee code, were the great sins, or 
" Kebey'ir-ed-denoob," in Arab terms, and what the little ones, 
or " Seghey'ir." My readers may perhaps know that Mahomet- 
ans divide sins into classes — the " great," to be punished in the 
next world, or at least deserving it; and the "little" sins, whose 
forgiveness is more easily obtained, and whose penalty is remis- 
sible in this life. 

The fact of a real and important distinction is admitted, 
somewhat analogous to the division widely received among 
Christians between mortal and venial transgressions. But here 
comes a main difficulty, namely, which is which ? Every one 
knows the infinite variety of opinion existing on this subject 
among Christian doctors or casuists. Nor are Mahometan 
divines less at variance. Some hold infidelity, polytheism, or 
non-Mahometanism, to be the only mortal sin — want of faith, in 
short. This seems to have been Mahomet's own decision, and 
is countenanced by several texts of the Coran. Others insist- 
ing on certain expressions contained in the " Book," add wilful 
homicide and usury ; others again run the total number up to 
seven, perhaps in imitation of the seven deadly sins specified 
among Christians; others carry it on to fifty, to seventy; and in a 



2S2 Life at RV ad [Chap, ix 

learned manuscript perused by myself in the town of IJamah, 
I was alarmed to find no less than four hundred entitled to this 
" bad eminence." 

Knowing this variety of opinion among ordinary Mahometans 
regarding the bipartition of sins, I was desirous to learn where 
Wahhabees thought fit to draw the contested line. My readers 
cannot fail to understand that the answer to this query must 
throw considerable light on the moral character of the sect ; 
the most important point, perhaps, where national creeds are 
concerned. Accordingly, I expressed to my learned friend the 
great anxiety which I lay under, and how uneasy my conscience 
was, from the fear of committing "great" sins, while deeming 
them only " little " ones ; that I had found the doctors of the 
north diffident and unsatisfactory in their replies; but that now, 
in the most pious and orthodox of towns, and in the society of 
the most learned of friends (modestly looking towards him), I 
hoped to set my mind at rest, and settle once for all a matter 
of such high importance. 

'Abd-el-Kereem doubted not that he had a sincere scholar 
before him, nor would refuse his hand to a drowning man. 
So, putting on a profound air, and with a voice of first-class 
solemnity, he uttered his oracle, that " the first of the great 
sins is the giving divine honours to a creature." A hit, I may 
observe, at ordinary Mahometans, whose whole doctrine of 
intercession, whether vested in Mahomet or in 'Alee, is classed 
by Wahhabees along with direct and downright idolatry. A 
Damascene Sheykh would have avoided the equivocation by 
answering, " infidelity." 

" Of course," I replied, " the enormity of such a sin is 
beyond all doubt. But if this be the first, there must be a 






second : what is it?" 



"Drinking the shameful," in English, "smoking tobacco," 
was the unhesitating answer. 

"And murder, and adultery, and false witness?" I suggested. 

"God is merciful and forgiving," rejoined my friend; that is, 
these are merely little sins. 

" Hence two sins alone are great, polytheism and smoking," 
I continued, though hardly able to keep countenance any longer. 
And 'Abd-el-Kereem with the most serious asseveration replied 
that such was really the case. On hearing this, I proceeded 
K'-^tbly to entreat mv friend to explain to rr~ tV.^ r*2 K c\iI 



Chap, ix] Wahhdbee Patients 283 

wickedness inherent in tobacco leaves, that I might the more 
detest and eschew them hereafter. 

Accordingly he proceeded to instruct me, saying that, Firstly, 
all intoxicating substances are prohibited by the Coran; but 
tobacco is an intoxicating substance; Ergo, tobacco is pro- 
hibited. 

I insinuated that it was not intoxicating, and appealed to 
experience. But, to my surprise, my friend had experience too 
on his side, and had ready at hand the most appalling tales of 
men falling down dead drunk after a single whiff of smoke, 
and of others in a state of bestial and habitual ebriety from 
its use. Nor were his stories so purely gratuitous as many 
might at first imagine. The only tobacco known, when known, 
in Southern Nejed, is that of 'Oman, a very powerful species. 
I was myself astonished, and almost "taken in," more than 
once, by its extraordinary narcotic effects, when I experienced 
them, in the coffee-houses of Bahreyn and the K'hawahs of 
Sohar. 

However, I would not subscribe to his argument ; besides, I 
had not yet tried the sort of tobacco which he had in mind. 
So I rejoined that, without questioning in the least the accuracy 
of the facts he stated, they were after all to be looked on as 
exceptions, or unfortunate idiosyncrasies ; and that, in a general 
way, the depraved wretches whom we Damascenes, in the less 
enlightened regions of the north, daily saw with deep regret 
indulging in the use of the " shameful," did not exhibit any 
notable symptoms of ebriety, or incur such tragic catastrophes, 
at least in their outward man. 

But ray preceptor turned the tables on me by boldly asserting 
intoxication to be the rule and non-intoxication the exception. 
" Just so," added he, u sompmen will drink wine without being 
sensibly affected by it, yjrf their example nohow exempts the 
liquor from the absolute prohibition, founded on its natural and 
ordinary effect." WJtfereto I thought it wisest to make no reply, 
for fear of a too comprehensive major in my syllogism, which 
might have brought me under suspicion of advocating wine also, 
and so made bad worse. 

Still 'Abd-el-K.ereem, like most sophists, felt inwardly that 
his first reason was not entirely conclusive, and now brought 
forward a second, founded on tradition. That authority teaches 
us that Mahomet, why or when I do not remember, declared 




284 Life at RVad [Chap, ix 

./ to his followers the unlawfulness of employing in food whatever 
- had been burnt or singed with fire. Perhaps this is one reason 
for the universality of -toiled.. meat in Nejed, to the total ex- 
clusion of roasted, grilled, or fried, unless ignorance of cookery 
be the only practical cause. Any way, there stands the pro- 
hibition, and it only remained to show that tobacco smoke was 
included in it. The Arab equivocation between " drinking " 
and " smoking" — for the word "shareba" is applied to either — 
sufficed for this. 

To this argument I opposed the use of fumigations, so 
common in Nejed, and so dear to the Prophet. But in vain, 
for the word " shareba " was inapplicable here. Whereon I 
sought refuge in the " Mellah," or bread, baked or rather burnt, 
under the glowing cinders, of which comestible a former stage 
of our narrative has afforded frequent example, and which is 
equally in use throughout Nejed. This was really to the point; 
and ; Abd-el-Kereem fell back on the intoxicating properties of 
the herb. 

Such was the upshot of my conversation that day with 'Abd- 
el-Kereem ; I give it by way of a specimen of many others held 
at different times. The sinfulness of tobacco was, indeed, a 
frequent topic in Nejed, and it was confirmed by visible and 
appalling judgments. Thus, for example : A man, supposed of 
correct life and unquestionable Islam, died and was buried at 
Sedoos, the same little frontier town which we passed not long 
since. Prayers were said over him, and he was duly laid in his 
grave, reclining on his side, his facjr toward the Ca'abah, like 
any other good Muslim. Now it -"chanced that a neighbour, 
while assisting at the funeral cerernonies, had let fall, unperceived 
by himself, a small purse of rponey exactly into the pit, where 
it remained covered up with earth alongside the dead man. On 
returning home, the owner j6f the purse discovered his loss ; he 
searched everywhere, burfo no purpose, and at last rightly con- 
cluded that his money/must have found an untimely grave. 
What was to be done? To disturb the repose of the dead is 
an action no less abhorred among Mahometans than among 
ordinary Christians. But quid non mortalia fedora cogis, Auri 
sacra fames % The peasant consulted the village Kadee, who 
assured him that in such a case digging up a corpse was no 
crime, though he wisely advised him to await nightfall, for fear 



chap, ix] Wahhdbee Patients 285 

of scandal and gossip. Night at last came, and the excusable 
" resurrection man " set to work, and soon released his purse 
from the cold grasp pf death. But what was his amazement 
and horror to see his deceased townsman now laid with his face 
turned away from the Ca'abah, and shifted to a position exactly 
the opposite of that in which they had but lately placed him. 
Hastily covering up the grave, he returned to give the Kadee in- 
formation of the portent. Both agreed that thfe defunct, to merit 
this ominous transposition, must have diedTri infidelity or some 
equally grievous sin, and an official search of his quondam domi- 
cile was set on foot, to discover the traces or indications of his 
wicked ways. High and low they ransacked, and at last de- 
tected, where it had been carefully hidden in a crevice of the 
wall, a small bone pipe, whose blackened tube and diabolical 
smell too plainly denoted its frequent use, and revealed the 
infamous hypocrisy of its owner. The crime was evident, the 
visible chastisement explained, and no doubt but that the ama- 
teur of " shameful" smoke had already gone to unquenchable 
fire — " sarve him right " ! Another had rotted piecemeal, a rock 
had falleii on the head of a third, &c. Bigotry and its tales are 
the same under every climate, and in every tongue mutato 
nomine— fabula narratur. 

I return to 'Abd-el-Kereem, and what passed between us on 
occasion of his entire recovery, an evej£t in which my readers, I 
hope, take a charitable interest ; it wa/ pre-eminently significant 
alike of the man and of the peopfe. In about three weeks' 
space the symptoms which had previously annoyed him had so 
far disappeared, that he felt and/declared himself perfectly well. 
At the outset of the treatment we had fixed the fee to be paid 
on cure, and now that the time came, I gently reminded him of 
his engagement. The first" hint having not taken effect, a 
second and a third followed, each broader than its predecessor, 
but all to no purpose. Meanwhile several of the most respect- 
able inhabitants, for we had by this taken our place among the 
citizens, joined in urging the ex-Zelator to the acquittance of 
the stipulation. And since the whole sum in question did not 
exceed eleven shillings English, 'Abd-el-Kereem's backwardness 
was no less ridiculous than shabby. Ashamed, yet reluctant, 
he bethought himself of an expedient for getting off, ingenious, 
but hardly creditable. 



286 Life at Ri'ad [Chap, ix 

I was seated alone in my K'hawah, somewhat late in the 
afternoon, when a brisk knock at the door warned me to stop 
my note-writing and to undo the latch. In came three or four 
of my town friends, with the merry faces of men who have a 
good jest to tell, and had hardly seated themselves before they 
began to relate what they had just witnessed. They had ar- 
rived from the daily afternoon sermon at the Great Mosque or 
Djamia'. While yet at Ha'yel I mentioned this kind of discourse ; 
here there is no essential difference, unless that the ceremony 
is much longer, the audience more numerous, and the lecture 
or sermon turns twice out of three times on some peculiarity of 
the sect. On the present occasion, when the reader, a Metow'- 
waa', had finished his part, 'Abd-el-Kereem came forward to 
deliver the viva voce commentary, here never omitted. Our 
friend took for theme of his discourse, the inefncacy of created 
means, and the obligation of placing one's confidence in the 
Creator alone, to the exclusion of the creature. Thence coming 
to a practical application, he inveighed against those who put 
their trust in physic and physicians, not in God solely, and 
declared such trust to be, firstly, heretical, and, secondly, a sheer 
mistake, inasmuch as the only effective cause of health or sick- 
ness, life or death, is simply the Divine will ; doctors and medi- 
cine being for nothing in the matter from beginning to end. 
Whence he deduced a second and a very legitimate consequence, 
that such useless things and beings could nohow merit any 
recompense either in money or in thanks from a true believer. 
Nay, added he, should even a sick man really seem to be bettered 
by medical means, and while employing them recover his health, 
such a recovery would be a mere coincidence, no matter of 
cause and effect, and the doctor would in consequence be en- 
titled to absolutely nothing, since the cure was due not to him, 
but to the Deity alone, La Ilah ilia Allah, &c. 

Probably, at another moment and from another mouth, these 
lessons of theologico-practical wisdom would have passed with- 
out other comment than silence or approbation. But unluckily 
'Abd-el-Kereem was a conspicuous character, and so was I. 
Every neighbour knew the whole history of his ailment, his 
physicking, and his cure, by heart. The result was, that his 
holding forth, although perfectly orthodox in itself, lay under 
the imputation of private nor over-honourable feelings, and 



Chap, ix] Wahhdbee Patients 287 

everyone suspected the preacher to be engaged rather in 
knotting his own purse-strings than in untying the plexus of a 
doctrinal question. Winks and nods went round ; and, when 
the auditors were once out of the mosque, followed comments 
and what laughter might be compatible with Nejdean decorum. 
My friends enjoyed the joke heartily, and in conclusion pro- 
mised to bring 'Abd-el-Kereem by one means or another to our 
house next day, while we agreed together on /what should then 
be said and done. 

They kept promise, and in the following forenoon 'Abd-el- 
Kereem appeared with an embarrassed look, and surrounded 
by several companions, amongst whom were those of the pre- 
ceding evening. After the preliminaries of courtesy, and con- 
versation having reached the desired point, " 'Abd-el-Kereem," 
said I, " there can be no doubt that health and recovery come 
from God alone, and small thanks to the doctor. In the same 
manner, neither more nor less, I expect that God will give me 
so much" (naming the stipulated sum) "by your instrumen- 
tality, and when I have got it, small thanks to you also." 
Every one laughed, and fell on our poor ex-Zelator, till he 
became thoroughly ashamed of himself. He left the house with 
promise of speedy payment, and before sunset his younger 
brother had brought the money in question, thus preventing 
further sarcasms. But 'Abd-el-Kereem never crossed our 
threshold again. 

I had a much more favourable specimen of the learned or 
semi-learned class in a third patient of note, 'Abd-er-Rahman, 
the Metow'waa' or chaplain of the palace. For years past he 
had been subject to attacks of severe nervous headache, and he 
was actually labouring under a paroxysm which confined him 
to his room, and rendered him incapable of performing his 
clerical functions. Djowhar, who already felt and acknow- 
ledged an amelioration in his health, had by this time esta- 
blished the good reputation of his doctor in the palace ; and at 
his suggestion the Metow'waa' sent for me, with a message of 
uncommon urgency. 

His apartments, directly opposite to those of Mahboob, were 
spacious and well-furnished, and contained, among other articles, 
about forty volumes, printed or manuscript, on various subjects; 
a very fair library for Arabia. In spite of pain, he mustered up 



288 Life at RV ad [Chap, ix 

all the elegant pedantry of grammar in the exposure of his 
case ; and when, after two or three days, a proper treatment 
had relieved him of his tortures, he proved a very interesting 
acquaintance, infinitely more amiable and open than 'Abd-el- 
Kereem. In his rooms I learnt much of the history of Mosey- 
lemah, of the Wahhabee, of the religious state of Nejed in old 
times, and many similar topics. Hither, as to a common 
centre, resorted many of the young students in law and divinity 
already alluded to, and would discuss before me moral ques- 
tions or points of dogma after their fashion, for 'Abd-er-Rahman 
was not only learned, but agreeably communicative, and a good 
speaker, and drew these pale thin lads around him, till most 
regarded him as their guide and master. 

One morning I was seated on the " Belas," or coarse-spun 
Nejdean carpet, by his side, and many of the palace were pre- 
sent in mixed conversation. Somehow the discourse fell on 
Damascus, or " Sham," whereon all, in politeness bound, began 
to praise what they fancied to be my native city, and to cite 
that well-known tradition of Mahomet's visit to that city. A 
mere fable, according to which the Prophet, on whom be salu- 
tation and blessings, had purposed entering the Syrian capi- 
tal, and had already half-alighted from his camel near the 
southern gate ; when just as one of his blessed feet reached the 
ground, and the other was about to follow it, lo ! Gabriel the 
archangel by his side, to inform him that God left him his 
choice between the Paradise of this world and that of the next ; 
and that consequently if he persisted in entering Damascus, it 
must be on condition of renouncing the gardens and houris of 
heaven. Whereon the Prophet very properly changed his 
design, preferred the enjoyments of eternity to the groves and 
waters of Barada, replaced his leg over his saddle, and returned 
by the way he came. However, to the confusion of all sceptics 
and infidels, the print of the prophetic foot which had already 
touched the rocky soil, remained ineffaceably imprinted there, 
and I myself have had the happiness of seeing it in the pretty 
little mosque commemorative of the vision and the choice, 
near the town-gate on the road from Hauran. Though indeed 
some contend that the five-toed mark belongs not to Mahomet 
but to Gabriel, who, in human form, but with angelic agility, 
alighted on one foot only. Far be it from me to attempt 



Chap, ix] Wahhdbee Patients 289 

deciding so weighty a controversy; my readers may settle it for 
themselves. 

Whosesoever the footprint may be, the story is gospel among 
Mahometans, and it was now recited for the thousandth time, 
in compliment to us, the supposed "Showam," or Damascenes. 
But 'Abd-el-Hameed, the Peshawuree, already described, was 
present, and could not bear this in silence. Besides the jealous 
ill will that he bore us, and which alone nnght have sufficed to 
move his choler, he was himself a native of the fair regions of 
Cachemire, and brought up amid groves far lovelier than the 
gardens of Damascus, and by the side of rivers to which the 
Barada were a mere gutter. Lastly, he was a true Shiya'ee at 
heart, and the praises of the most Sonnee of all cities, the old 
capital of Beni-Ommeyah, and the centre even now of hostility 
and antagonism to his sect, were gall and wormwood to his 
soul. So " fierce he broke forth " : " What nonsense you here 
are talking. Paradise of the earth ! Paradise of the earth ! and 
all for a few stunted trees and a little muddy water ! Why ! do 
you not understand that the Prophet and his companions were 
nothing but Bedouins, accustomed all their life to the arid 
sterilities of Hejaz, and the desert % so when at Damascus they 
came for the first time on a cluster of gardens and running 
streams, they straightway concluded this to be Paradise, and 
so named it ! Guess, had they seen my country they would 
have changed their mind." 

All eyes stared, all jaws dropped, and " Astaghfir Ullah," (I 
beg pardon of God,) and " La Ilah ilia Allah " went largely 
round, while ? Abd-el-Hameed, now red-hot with excitement, 
and worked up into recklessness of results, glared anger and 
scorn, and muttered Cabul curses. Had he not been a per- 
sonal favourite of Feysul's, matters might have gone ill for him. 
But 'Abder-Rahman prudently hastened to turn the conversa- 
tion, and this outbreak of Affghan vehemence passed without 
further comment. 

Needs not weary my non-medical readers with a detail of 
cases, here more numerous and luckily more successful than 
elsewhere. Some of my patients were townsmen, others 
strangers on business in Ri'ad ; some were rich, some poor ; 
many visits and meals were given and returned. Thus, at 
times we found ourselves cushion-reclined in a well-carpeted 

u 



290 Life at RV ad [Chap, ix 

K'hawah, before an ostentatious pile of coffee-pots, two for use 
and ten for show; at others in the low, ill-lighted rooms on the 
ground floor, the dwellings of the poor ; sometimes in a garden 
a mile or more out of town, on a call of friendship or duty. 
The days passed rapidly ; and I am much mistaken if some 
London practitioners would not have envied us our want of 
leisure, and a popularity which they would better have deserved. 

However, I cannot leave in silence 'Abd-el-Lateef, the great- 
grandson of the famed Wahhabee, and now Kadee of the 
capital — a very, indeed remarkably handsome and fair-spoken 
man, and bearing in his manners a sensible dash of Egyptian 
civilization. While yet a mere child he was carried to Egypt 
with the rest of his family by the conquering Basha, and there 
educated. Cairo society, and the intercourse of men more 
learned and less exclusive than those of Nejed and Derey'- 
eeyah, have taught him an ease and variety of conversation 
surprising in a Kadee of Ri'ad; and thus enabled him to assume 
on occasion a liberality of phrase free from the cant terms and 
wearisome tautology of the sect which he heads. But such 
liberal semblance is merely a surface whitewash; the tongue 
may be the tongue of Egypt, but the heart and brain are ever 
those of Nejed. Nor do I believe that the central mountains 
of Arabia contain a more dangerous man than 'Abd-el-Lateef, 
or one who more cordially hates the progress he has witnessed, 
and in which he has to a certain degree participated. It is the 
embodied antipathy of bad to good, at least equal to that of 
good to bad. 

We were not unfrequently together, though the knowledge of 
whom I had to deal with made me rather hold back, in spite of 
his great courtesies. That his house was a palace, his gardens 
of the widest, his slaves a throng, need hardly be said ; next 
after the king, he was unquestionably the first personage in the 
capital, and even in the empire ; nay, in many respects, he was 
more powerful than Feysul himself. I was again and again his 
guest to a cup of coffee : from I know not what intonation of 
my voice, he believed me not a Damascene but an Egyptian, 
and conversed willingly about the Kasr-el-'Eynee and the 
Djamia'-el-Azhar. But he also knew me to be a Christian, 
and in due time showed what were his real feelings towards me 
as such. 



Chap, ix] Wahhabee Patients 291 

r 

I was often present at his public lectures and comments, 
whether delivered in his own elegant mosque, close by his house 
in the third quarter of the town, or in the great Djamia' of the 
city. On these occasions he was surrounded by numerous and 
earnest auditors, besides a select body of especial disciples ; 
and I must give him the deserved credit of being a clear and 
elegant speaker, possessed also of the range of learning suit- 
able to his position. ^J 

'Abd-el-Lateef is not the only representative of his family ; he 
is the eldest of several brothers, but all notably inferior to him 
in talent. The youngest among them, Mohammed, was a very 
original character. He had just returned from Egypt, where 
he had figured for two years among the medical students of the 
Kasr-el-'Eynee, and exemplified in his person the Arab proverb, 
"went a donkey and came back a jackass." Narrow-minded, 
narrow-hearted, as avaricious at twenty as ever Sir John Cutler 
at sixty, with the exotic vices of Cairo engrafted on the indi- 
genous stock of Ri'ad, and a dialect confused like his who in 
his travels " lost his own language, and acquired no more," it 
was most amusing to hear his Egyptian experiences, and his 
comments on the race of Pharaoh, as he impolitely styled the 
inhabitants of the great Delta. He had followed the prelimi- 
nary lectures of the medical college, but little understood them ; 
at last, time came to attend the anatomical course, and witness 
the mysteries of the " dead room," when, said he, his orthodoxy 
could not stomach practices so contrary to correct Islam, and 
he had abandoned college and capital in disgust. So ran his 
version of the matter ; I much suspect that hopeless stupidity, 
perhaps ill-conduct, held the larger part with an expulsion 
veiled under the more respectable title of retirement. He was 
in truth one of the most thorough brutes I ever had the bad 
fortune to meet ; and I was honoured by his especial hatred, 
and peculiar calumnies. 

Were I not deterred by the fear of abusing my reader's pa- 
tience, I might add some account of the Bedouin chief Toweel, 
of the 'Oteybah clan, whom I counted among my patients, and 
who, Bedouin-like, availed himself of returning health to run 
away from Ri'ad without settling his bill ; of the wealthy Abd- 
er-Rizzak, and his handsome dwelling in the genuine style of 
an old Nejdean chief; of the good-humoured Abyssinian Fahd, 

u 2 



292 The Wahhdbee Dynasty [Chap, ix 

whose sprightly off-hand manner contradistinguished him from 
his Arabian neighbours ; of the young IJamood, wounded in 
'Oneyzah warfare, and thus half a martyr, with many other 
patients and friends who enlivened our stay, while they filled 
now our note-book and now our purse. 

None, however, proved a more grateful or a more liberal 
convalescent than our old acquaintance, the chief treasurer, 
Djowhar. With negro docility, he forgot his high position so 
far as to come and seek treatment morning and evening at our 
modest domicile, though movement was in his case accompanied 
by much pain. At the end of three weeks his cure was far ad- 
vanced, and he could without serious inconvenience undertake 
his journey to the coast. His joy was unbounded, and a present 
handsome for Nejed — it amounted to about forty shillings of 
our own money — with abundance of hearty encomiums, testified 
his gratitude. Our position at court was now excellent, and 
'Abd-Allah himself, the heir-apparent, and the active adminis- 
trator of the kingdom, was decidedly in our favour. But 
Mahboob, the prime minister, had hitherto looked coldly on 
us ; and it was to his father's recovery that we at last owed his 
patronage, and, for a certain period of time, his intimacy. Our 
visits at the palace became more and more frequent, and we 
could talk of sultans of Nejed, princes and ministers, "as maids 
of thirteen do of puppy-dogs." 

Feysul, the sultan of the land, has already figured in this 
narrative, sufficiently to dispense with further details of his 
history and person. Suffice to say that as age has advanced, 
Feysul has become stone blind, while increasing corpulence, 
a rare phenomenon in Arab physiology, has rendered him 
more and more incapable of active exertion. Timidity also, 
and superstition its frequent follower, grows on him daily, till 
for the last three or four years he has almost wholly resigned 
the direction of affairs to his son 'Abd-Allah, dividing what 
time yet remains to him between the oratory and the harem. 
He never appears in public, except for an early visit every 
Friday morning to his father's tomb, or when some extraordinary 
event' induces him to show himself to the populace for a few 
minutes and no more. Without the palace walls 'Abd-Allah 
governs supreme, while within Mahboob and some negro slaves, 
privileged in their access to the person of the old despot, lead 



Chap, ix] The Wahhdbee Dynasty 293 

him at their will. The only other human beings freely admitted 
to his presence are the bigoted Zelators, whose moral and even 
material influence he is unable to withstand, nor dares reject 
whatever they may impose on him, however injurious to the 
better interests of the empire. Avarice, "that good old-gentle- 
manly vice,' , has claimed over Feysul the dominion which she 
too often extends over better men at a similar period of their 
existence, while dissimulation and treachery have been perfected 
by long practice into a second nature. cLn short, it may be 
feared that what good was in him has almost if not totally 
vanished, while heart and head, intellect and will, are alike 
sinking into a dotage well befitting a tyrant of seventy. 

Of 'Abd-Allah his eldest son the past sketch may suffice. It 
is, however, worth adding that his mother belongs to the Sa'ood 
family. Not so the mother of the second son, named after the 
first founder of the race Sa'ood, but born from a woman of the 
Benoo-Khalid clan, and verifying a known Arab saying, by 
presenting much more of the maternal than of the paternal 
resemblance. For whereas 'Abd-Allah is, like his father, short, 
stout, large-headed and thick-necked, a very bull in appearance, 
Sa'ood is tall, slender, handsome, and with a strong trace of the 
careless Bedouin expression in his countenance. Open and 
generous, fond of show and horsemanship, he is a great favourite 
with the "liberal" party, who entitle him "Aboo-'hala," literally, 
"father of welcome," from the " Ya-'.hala," or "welcome" with 
which he is wont to greet whoever approaches him. Whereas 
'Abd-Allah stands forth the head of the orthodox party, who 
look up to him as their main support and future hope. 

Of course the two brothers, almost equal in age, are at daggers 
drawn, and cannot even speak peaceably to each other. Feysul, 
to prevent frequent collision, has appointed Sa'ood regent of 
Yemamah and Hareek, with Salemee'yah for chief residence, 
thus putting him at a distance from Ri'ad, where 'Abd-Allah 
resides in quality of special governor over the town. Meantime 
Sa'ood, by his easy access and liberal conduct, has won the I 
hearts of his immediate subjects, and of all opposed to rigorism / 
in the other provinces. Hence it is universally believed that 
the death of Feysul will prove the signal for a bloody and 
equally matched war between the Romulus and Remus, or, if 
you will, between the Don Henry and Don Pedro, of Nejed. 



294 The Wahhabee Dynasty [Chap, rx 

So far as two despots and two evils admit of a choice, my own 
good wishes go with Sa'ood. Feysul, however, from orthodoxy 
and perhaps sympathy, favours the elder brother, and tries to 
keep the second in the background. Once only, on occasion of 
some troubles in Wadi Dowasir, he appointed Sa'ood leader of 
the armament about to be sent thither. But he soon repented 
him of having thus given him an opportunity for public display, 
when Sa'ood, after a brief but brilliant campaign, reappeared at 
Ri'ad accompanied by two hundred picked men, all richly 
dressed in handsome scarlet uniform, with gold broidery, sil- 
vered swords, costly housings, and " each man mounted on his 
capering beast," in a splendour unknown even to the days of 
the first 'Abd-Allah, and equally offensive to paternal bigotry 
and fraternal jealousy. Sa'ood was ordered back with speed to 
Salemee'yah, whence, however, we shall soon see him return, 
and I will then duly relate what passed on the meeting of the 
family trio — Sa'ood, 'Abd-Allah, and Feysul. 

A third son, Mohammed, offspring of a Nejdean dame, and 
much resembling his father and eldest brother in appearance, 
was now at the siege of 'Oneyzah, where we left him a few 
chapters back. The fourth and last, 'Abd-er-Rahman, is a 
heavy-looking boy, who as yet inhabits his father's harem. He 
appeared to me between ten and twelve years old : a Lavater 
would not gather from his features much promise for the future. 
I have mentioned the old maid, Feysul' s only unmarried daughter 
and private secretary. She is, I trust, very beautiful, but I have 
never been blest with a peep behind the black veil wherein she 
sits muffled up, looking more like a heap of clothes than a 
king's daughter. And thus much for the royal family of Nejed. 

But before we return to our narrative and relate what passed 
between us and them, it may not be amiss to take a brief view 
of the actual condition of this empire, which presents two ele- 
ments, very diverse and often sharply opposed to each other : 
the first consists of the real staunch Wahhabees, men who, in 
the words of old Oliver, "bring a conscience to their work;" 
the second, of those who are only Wahhabees by subjection, and 
because they cannot help it. German idiom might class them 
into Wahhabees and " muss," or " must-be- Wahhabees." 

The former class predominates in the six provinces, 'Aared, 
Woshem, Sedeyr, Aflaj, Dowasir, and Yemamah. Not that 



chap, ix] The Wahhabee Dynasty 295 

disaffected individuals are here wholly wanting, but they form 
a decided minority, composed mainly of old chieftain families 
dispossessed by the present government, and of their immediate 
retainers. The rest of the inhabitants are all sincerely attached 
to the Sa'ood dynasty and system, though the reason and de- 
gree of their attachment are nowise the same. It is strongest in 
the 'Aared, where religious sympathy is reinforced by national 
bonds; the Sa'oods are natives of the land, and its long- 
honoured chieftains, so that the governmeri^ is here eminently 
popular, or, to speak more exactly, upheld by the people. 
Besides, a restless and warlike disposition, joined to poverty at 
home, renders the character and consequences of the prevalent 
system especially well pleasing to the highlanders of 'Aared. 
However, even here exists a reactionary party, men who would 
gladly see more tobacco and fewer prayers. Yet even these do 
not precisely desire a change of dynasty, though in case of 
Feysul's death they would prefer a Sa'ood to an 'Abd-Allah. 
But in general the partisans of the latter and of strict orthodoxy 
are at least seven to one throughout 'Aared. In a political and 
moral point of view this province is, and always has been, of 
the highest importance. 

In the Yemamah popular feeling is not much dissimilar, 
though it assumes a somewhat mitigated form. Here too there 
prevails the deepest hereditary respect for the reigning family, i 
though the well-wishers of Sa'ood outnumber those of 'Abd-Allah, 
wherein Yemamah contrasts with 'Aared. The personal presence 
of Sa'ood, and the less deep-grained dye of fanaticism in the 
southerly province explain this difference. Both 'Aared and 
Yemamah are meanwhile essentially Wahhabee. 

In Hareek, old discord, cruel wars, and unpleasing memories 
have left their traces, and there may be found many families 
discontented not only with Wahhabeeism in general, but with 
the family of Ebn-Sa'ood in particular. This was yet more the 
case a few years back ; at the present day Sa'ood, by frequent 
visits to Hootah, and a peculiar courtesy to its citizens, seems 
to have won over the majority of hearts; and when the inevitable 
contest shall ensue between the two brothers, 'Abd-Allah can 
hardly reckon on a single sword or dagger in his behalf from 
IJareek. 

Aflaj, barren and savage, resembles 'Aared in its inhabitants, 



«*8***s«K* 



296 The Wahhdbee Dynasty [Chap, ix 

unless that here religious motives form a stronger tie of attach- 
ment than political feeling. 

This is above all the case in Wadi Dowasir, where enthusiasm 
darkens into positive fanaticism of the worst kind, and where 
the love of plunder comes in to aid even more than in 'Aared 
itself. The most contemned and the most contemptible among 
all the Arab race, if history, poetry, and satire (with my own 
personal experience to boot) hold true, the denizens of Wadi 
Dowasir, or Aal-'Aamar, to give them their genuine name, rank 
the highest in the Wahhabee and the lowest in the national 
scale. For ages nothing, they are now, to the misfortune of 
their neighbours, something by their incorporation with the 
great Wahhabee body ; and no better exemplification of a cer- 
tain vulgar proverb touching a beggar on horseback, and whither 
he will ride, can be found anywhere than among the Khodey- 
reeyah and Aal-'Aamar of Wadi Dowasir. Needs not say that 
where pillage is to be had, their ragged troops can always be 
counted on, be it for Sa'ood or be it for 'Abd-Allah. 

Woshem is a very different province. Here predominates 
the commercial, or at least the shopkeeper spirit, and "it is 
the cause, it is the cause, my soul," finds a fainter echo in 
Woshem hearts than anywhere else throughout Djebel Toweyk. 
But their quiet, unmartial disposition hinders them from being 
otherwise than good subjects of a government on whose exist- 
ence mainly depends their substantial profit, while it trebles 
and quadruples the caravans of pilgrims on the Mecca road, 
and fills the warehouses of the wayside towns and villages, 
especially Shakra', with whatever merchandise passes from the 
West to Nejed. In war this province supplies the commissariat 
rather than the ranks ; however, its inhabitants are good Wah- 
habees, and if they furnish few " Zelators," produce also few 
malcontents. 

Sedeyr is in extent the largest, and in reputation the highest 
of all these districts. Here Nejdean generosity, courage, per- 
severance, and long patience, are animated by somewhat of 
that enterprising spirit so distinctive of the Shomer population; 
and in physical qualities the men of Sedeyr have decidedly the 
advantage fver all their neighbours. Here also are those old 
towns, alrrjpst the oldest on Arab records, old families, old and 
honourable memories. The Sedeyr is the nobleman of Nejed. 



Chap, ix] The Wahhabee Dynasty 297 

The greater proportion of the inhabitants are genuine Wahha- 
bees, and sincerely attached to the tenets of the sect, especially 
in the southern tracts of the mountain ; in the northern districts, 
their intercourse with Koweyt, Zobeyr, and Djebel Shomer 
has somewhat unsettled their opinions. On the other hand, 
there is less political attachment to the Ebn-Sa'oods here than 
elsewhere in Nejed; many of the chiefs regret their former 
independence, and the people hanker after an indigenous 
government It would require no very violent shock to de- 
tach them from the Bi'ad dynasty; but not so from Wahhabee 
doctrines. 

The Bedouins of these six provinces are comparatively few 
in number, scattered up and down the immense plateau and its 
varied valleys. They are one and all sincere lovers of civil and 
religious anarchy, being easily gained and easily lost, in propor- 
tion to the strength or weakness of the governing hand; creatures 
of the day, and a ready tool for invasion or insurrection, distur- 
bance and disorganisation, whoever be the bidder. 

Thus much for Nejed Proper, with IJareek and Dowasir. 
Next follow three great provinces, subject to Nejed for one only 
sufficient reason, that they cannot free themselves from her; I 
mean Hasa, Kateef, and Kaseem. 

Of the inhabitants of Kaseem we have already said enough 
to explain their tendencies ; the 'Oneyzah war may suffice for 
a sample. Gladly would they, and perhaps some day will, 
ally themselves to the first power, be it what it may, that shall 
show itself their protector, whether in the name of Hejaz or 
Cairo, Ottoman or Egyptian. The majority here are Mahome- 
tans, nowise Wannabees. 

The union of Hasa and Kateef with Nejed is even more un- 
stable and compulsory than that of Kaseem. 'Aaseer is ever 
the constant ally, though not the tributary, of Nejed. 

To sum up, we may say that the Wahhabee empire is a 
compact and well-organised government, where centralization is 
fully understood and effectually carried out, and whose main- 
springs and connecting-links are force and fanaticism. There 
exist no constitutional checks either on the king or on his sub- 
ordinates, save what the necessity of circumstance imposes or 
the Coran prescribes. Its atmosphere, to speak metaphorically, 
is sheer despotism, moral, intellectual, religious, and physical. 



9 8 



The Wahhabee Dynasty 



[Chap. IX 



This empire is capable of frontier extension, and hence is 
dangerous to its neighbours, some of whom it is even now 
swallowing up, and will certainly swallow more, if not otherwise 
prevented. Incapable of true internal progress, hostile to com- 
merce, unfavourable to arts and even to agriculture, and in the 
highest degree intolerant and aggressive, it can neither better 
itself nor benefit others ; while the order and calm which it 
sometimes spreads over the lands of its conquest, are described 
in the oft-cited Ubi solitudinem faciunt paean appellant of the 
Roman annalist. 

In conclusion, I here subjoin a numerical list, taken partly 
from the government registers of Ri'ad, partly from local 
information, and containing the provinces, the number of the 
principal towns or villages, the population, and the military 
contingent, throughout the Wahhabee empire. A second list 
supplies something analogous for the Bedouins existing within 
its territory. 



Provinces Towns or villages 


Population 


Military muster 


I 'Aared . . . 15 . . 


, 110,000 . . 


6,000 


II Yemamah . . 32 . . 


, 140,000 . . 


. 4>5°o 


Ill Hareek ... 16 . . , 


45,000 . . 


, 3,000 


IV Aflaj .* . . . 12 . . 


14,000 . . 


1,200 


V Wadi Dowasir . 50 . . 


, 100,000 . . , 


4,000 


VI Seley'yel . . 14 . . 


30,000 . . 


1,400 


VII Woshem . . 20 . . 


8o,000 . . 


4,000 


VIII Sedeyr . . . 25 . . . 


140,000 . „ , 


5,200 


IX Kaseem . . 60 . . 


300,000 . . 


, 11,000 


X Hasa . . . 50 . . , 


l6o,000 . . « 


7,000 


XI Kateef . . . 22 . . , 


100,000 . • , 


» ■ — 


316 


1,219,000 


47,300 



Two remarks are here necessary. Firstly, we may notice an 
occasional disproportion between the number of the inhabitants 
and that of the villages. This is caused by the varying size 
and importance of the latter, according to the political and 
other conditions of the respective provinces. Thus, for example, 
in Wadi Dowasir, where no considerable town exists, and the 
ordinary centres of population are mere hamlets, their number 
almost equals that assigned to Kaseem, where however the ex- 
istence of large towns, like 'Oneyzah, Bereydah, Henakeeyah, 
Rass, and so forth, together with the general fertility of the 



chap, ix] The Wahhabee Dynasty 299 

country, raises the total of the inhabitants to the triple of what 
Wadi Dowasir supplies. 

Secondly, the military quota is subject to no less striking 
inequalities. This again depends in great measure on the cha- 
racter of the districts on the list. Thus Kateef, though thickly 
peopled, furnishes absolutely nothing to the army, for rea- 
sons which will afterwards be explained ; while 'Aared, with a 
scarce higher cipher for its inhabitants, fills, the ranks of the 
Nejdean combatants. Most of these anomalies find their solu- 
tion in what we have already said in the detail of our journey. 

I will now sum up the Bedouin population, a much diminished 
element of Central Arabia. 

Tribes Population 

I Ajman • • 6,000 

II Benoo-Hajar 4? 500 

III Benoo-Khalid 3, 000 

IV Meteyr 6,000 

V 'Oteybah • 12,000 

VI Dowasir • 5,000 

VII Sebaa' • 3,000 

VIII Kahtan . 6,000 

IX Hart) 14,000 

X 'Anezah. . . . . , 3,000 

XI Aal-Morrah 4,000 

Scattered Families 10,000 

Total .....* 76,500 

The military force of a Bedouin tribe is reckoned at about 
one-tenth of its entire sum. This calculation gives us 8,000 for 
the utmost number of nomade warriors under the white and 
green banner of Ebn-Sa'ood. 

Thirdly, I subjoin the amount of annual tribute furnished by 
the several provinces to the treasury of Ei'ad, exclusive of extra- 
ordinary contributions. The estimation is given after the lists 
in Djowhar's charge, and set down in rials or Spanish dollars, 
which are employed here, and not unfrequently elsewhere in the 
East, for a standard of monetary summation ; they may, in the 
Nejdean exchange-market, be roughly reckoned equivalent to 
about five shillings and sixpence of our own money. 

Provinces Tribute 

I 'Aared •••.... 5,000 Rials 

II Yemamah ••••••• 6,000 



300 The Wahhabee Dynasty [Chap, ix 

Provinces Tribute 

III Hareek 10,000 Rials 

IV Aflaj * 2,000 

V Wadi Dowasir ...... 4,000 

VI Seley'yel 3,000 

VII Woshem 6,000 

VIII Sedeyr . 7,000 

IX Kase'em . 120,000 

X Hasa . 150,000 

XI Kateef 50,000 

Total 363,000 

s= about 100,000/. sterling 

To this must be added : firstly, an annual tribute or black- 
mail of 8,000 rials, or about 2,200/. exacted from Bahreyn. 
Secondly, a similar contribution levied on the western provinces 
of 'Oman, and amounting to 20,000 rials = 5,500/. sterling. 
These when added to the former sum, give a total 391,000 
rials = 107,000/. sterling. 

Extraordinary contributions, fines, presents, spoils of war, 
and the like, are calculated at an almost equal income; nor 
would the entire revenue of the year be overrated at 160,000/. 
sterling, or even more. And since there is no standing army, 
no fleet (except two or three miserable vessels at Kateef), and 
no court retinue of any consequence, to be kept up in Nejed, 
we may conclude that the Wahhabee government is not much 
exposed to the danger of incurring a national debt, and that it 
may even be held wealthy for the country and circumstances. 

I will now add by way of appendix an approximative estimate 
of the like elements in the kingdom of Telal-ebn-Rasheed. 
This I might have given before ; but I prefer putting the two 
states side by side ; that my readers may have better occasion 
for remarking several important diversities in population and 
other respects between the territories of Nejed and Djebel 
Shomer : — 



Provinces Towns or villages 
I Djebel Shomer . . 40 . 
II Djowf 12 . 

III Kheybar .... 8 . 

IV Upper Kaseem . . 20 . 
V Teyma'" .... 6 . 



Total 



86 



Population 

. 162,000 

. 40,000 

. 25,000 

. 35,000 

. 12,000 

. 274,000 



Military muster 
. 6,000 

• 2,500 
. 2,000 

• 2,500 
. 1,000 



14,000 



Chap, ix] The Wahhabee Dynasty 301 

Follow the Bedouin tribes subject to Telal : — 

Tribes Total 

I Shomer ........ 80,000 

II Sherarat 40,000 

III Howeytat 20,000 

IV Benoo-'Ateeyah • 6,000 

V Ma'az 4,000 

VI Ta'i 8,000 

VII Wahhidee'yah 8,000 



Total . . . . . C-S . . 166,000 

Military muster, about 16,000. 

Total of population, 430,000; of military force, 30,000 

My readers will not fail to notice the far greater proportion 
of nomades in the north. Of TelaTs revenues I was unable to 
obtain any exact statement; but, judging by the state and 
character of agriculture and commerce in his dominions, I 
should estimate them at about one-fourth of what Feysul 
receives yearly. 



302 



CHAPTER X 
Court of Bj'ad — Journey to Hofhoof 

Let me have 
A dram of poison, such soon-spreading gear 
As will disperse itself through all the veins, 
And that the trunk may be discharged of breath 
As suddenly as hasty powder fired 
Doth hurry from the fatal cannon's womb. 

Shakespeare 

First Acquaintance with 'Abd- Allah — His Favour — Character of this Prince- - 
A Visit to the Royal Stables — The Nejdee Horse — Details on the Breed— 
The Prime Minister Mahboob — His History, Character, and Conduct — 
Reception of the Persian Naib at Court — His Annoyance — A Morning 
Visit from the Zelaiors — Result — Manoeuvres of the Naib with the Rtad 
Government — Conclusion of the Negotiation — Preparations against 'Oney- 
zah — Official Correspondence — Arrival of Sa 'ood with the Southern Contin- 
gent — Their Reception at Ri'ad — Quarrels of Sdood and ^Abd-Allah — 
Interview with Sdood — His Character — Relative Position of the two 
Brothers — 'Abd- Allah becomes cold and suspicious — Proposal of a Ri'ad 
Establishment — How evaded — The Strychnine Cure — Demand made by 
' Abd- Allah — Our Refusal — A Night-scene at the Palace — Critical Position 
— A Lull — Escape from Ri J ad — Farewell to the Capital — Three Days in 
Wadi Soley* — yourney with Aboo-'' Eysa and El-Ghannam — Uplands of 
Eastern Toweyk—Lakey'yat — Last Range of Toweyk — Landscape — Wells 
of Oweysit — The Dahna, or Great Desert — A Dangerous Moment — Rej- 
mat Aboo-' Eysa — The Aal-Morj'ah — Separation of Aboo-' Eysa from El- 
Ghannam — Desert Route — Wadi Farook — The Heights of Ghar and 
Ghoweyr — Descent to the Coast-level — Locusts — Night Arrival at Hofhoof. 

The first storm had blown over, and all seemed to promise us 
a quiet and secure residence in the capital, so long as we should 
choose to abide there. Djowhar had won us a fair outset 
reputation, and every day brought new consultations and ac- 
quaintances, most of a favourable character. Feysul, whose 
apprehensions were now somewhat calmed, had returned to his 
palace, and after some delay mustered up courage enough to 



KlifcD 




20 ArseruU. 

21 Rvom^s for Servant* Negrroeo Jtr 

22 22. Apartm^nU of Ahco Skcrrvs 
23. OroCuiMry entrasu* 

24 Bab -u* Sirr or- prwale &zz2 

25 Benches for puMte aadiAoce 
2i> Afoot 

27. Rock about fourteen, reel, high 
28 Roorru 0(kzupLed by Afegroe* 






Vincent Br oc : 



PLAN vw FEY9ULS PALACE m RliAJD>. 




/. {hurt oftAt Marem 
Z Feysuls private Du'on 



4 fn/W {burl for audi*/ir# 

6 IHsonx 

7 7 Apartments of MaAboob 

8 Apartments of Sa,'ood 

S 10 Co wt yard with small 



of tfie Melow waa. Abd er ftaAma/L 
13 .Apartments of a/wtAer- MeUnv'waA 
H Apartments- of Abd, el Ifameed, 
IS Mcken 

K Apartments of Abd el Azeez 

/7 frwa/e Mesjret 

IS (hurt for Workmen 

?9 19 Dwellings for Workmen. 



■10 Arsenal 






21 Room* t 


r Servant, 


Negroct tc 


22 22 Apart,, 


tnu of Aboo Skcnu, 


23 OrctmMry 


entrance 




7< Bob u*- Scrr or prtMi 


toezU 


is BeruJies / 


r pu6l/<- aitjLeaze 


2t' Meat 






27 Rock about tburtee/i 


fee/, high, 


28 tfoonu orj-itjtced by 


Afegroc* 



Chap. X] Cotirt Intrigues of Rl ' ad 3O3 

accord the Na'ib a private audience in the inner divan. Mo- 
hammed-' Alee was not however over-pleased with his recep- 
tion, and could not understand the coolness with which the 
"Bedouin" (the only title avouched by the Shirazee to the 
Nejdean monarch) received his long list of grievances ; nor did 
Mahboob display much zeal in the furtherance of his cause. 
We, for our part, had agreed with Aboo-'Eysa not to request 
any special interview with Feysul ; the old man was a mere tool 
in the hands of his ministers and of the " Zelator " faction ; and 
while no useful result could be expected from our presence in 
his divan, it might on the other hand give rise to jealous sus- 
picions and to idle conjecture. 

But * Abd-Allah, exempt from the senile fears which agitated 
his father's breast, was not disposed to let us remain long with- 
out the favour of his personal acquaintance. Not desiring inti- 
macy with him, we had avoided the chances of meeting. How- 
ever, many days had not gone by, when we received a message 
requesting our appearance before him. The bearer of his high- 
ness's invitation was also by name 'Abd-Allah, a Nejdean of 
the Nej deans, belonging to the sourest and the most bigoted 
class j lean limbed, sallow featured, and wrinkled ; intelligent 
indeed and active, but by no means an agreeable companion. 
This worthy informed us that the health of his uncle (polite 
style for 'Abd-Allah), was something deranged, and that he in 
consequence desired a doctor's visit. He concluded by recom- 
mending us not to delay compliance with the royal wish. 

We put on clean over-dresses and went to 'Abd-Allah's 
palace. There we had to pass two outer courts before we 
reached a vestibule, just at the other end of which was the 
prince's private K'hawah. The morning was far advanced, and 
the heat within doors oppressive. 'Abd-Allah had taken his 
seat on a carpet spread in the vestibule, with three or four 
attendants at his side. Many others, some white, some black, 
plainly dressed, but all armed, stood or sat by the portal, and 
in the outer courts; an ungenial-looking set they were, espe- 
cially the true-born Nej deans. 

Were it not for a haughty, almost an insolent, expression on 
his features, and. a marked tendency to corpulency — an here- 
ditary defect, it would seem, in some branches of the family — 
Abd-Allah would not be an ill-looking man. As he is, he 



304 Court Intrigues of RVad [Chap, x 

resembles in a degree certain portraits of Henry VIII, nor are 
the two characters wholly dissimilar. On our approach, he 
mustered up a sort of rough politeness, and gave us a tolerably 
encouraging reception, though I soon found that the story of 
his bodily indisposition was a mere pretext for gratifying his 
curiosity. Of course no mention of 'Obeyd or his letter crossed 
our lips. 'Abd- Allah made some general enquiries about Djebel 
Shomer, for he had been already informed of our visit there, 
manifested much ill-will against Telal, railed at the defenders 
of 'Oneyzah, and cursed Zamil. Then began a series of un- 
scientific medical queries about temperaments — bilious, lym- 
phatic, sanguine, and the like. He was particularly anxious to 
know what his own temperament might be, and I rose con- 
siderably in his estimation by assuring him it was a happy com- 
bination of all four. He next made us repeated assurances of 
protection and good will, nor do I believe that they were for the 
moment hypocritical, since he had not yet any particular sus- 
picions on our score. Lastly, he ordered rather than requested 
our attendance at an early hour next morning, and wished us 
to bring our medical books along with us, professing himself 
very desirous to learn the healing art : " a promising pupil," 
thought I, and so doubtless will my readers. 

He was, however, in earnest, and when next day we were 
introduced into the little or private K'hawah, and honourably 
treated with coffee and perfumes, he kept us for a full hour 
reading and being read to, partly from my own Boulac-printed 
volume, and partly from a dateless manuscript belonging to his 
highness's library, wherein therapeutic traditions of the Prophet 
(proving him, alas ! to have been a very poor medical authority), 
old definitions and receipts stolen from second-hand transla- 
tions of Galen, and spoilt by the way, were jumbled together, 
with Persian names of plants and botany of Upper Egyptian 
idiom, till " a Daniel, yea, a Daniel," would have been puzzled 
to find out the interpretation thereof. Of course we treated the 
work with great deference, and tried to engraft on it somehow 
or other more authentic explanations ; with what success I 
hardly know. But at any rate we succeeded in securing a large 
share of the royal confidence, and now, when we passed by the 
palace attendants, if white they smiled on us, if black grinned, 
till we felt quite at home. 



Chap x] Court Intrigues of Ri ad 305 

For about three weeks matters continued on this amiable 
footing. Almost every day came a general or a special invita- 
tion to visit the prince, and pass two or three hours of the fore- 
noon or night amid the atmosphere of royalty. Nor was his 
highness at all reserved. He talked politics, and with all the 
insolence of ignorance would scoff at those very powers which 
had only a few years before annihilated the empire of his ances- 
tors, beheaded one of his predecessors, driven, another to years 
of exile, and shut up his own father in lorog 7 captivity. How- 
ever, Constantinople and Cairo were nothing in 'Abd- Allah's 
sight, and when on one occasion I asked him casually if he had 
been to Mecca, " I will go there," answered he, " but on horse- 
back ;" with an implied meaning that we may perhaps see 
realised in our own day. Then followed the wildest plans for 
storming 'Oneyzah, how the walls were to be breached by 
cannon, or might better still, seeing that they are of unbaked 
brick, be melted down by a gigantic water-engine; how he 
would cut off Zamil's head, &c. A series of successes over 
marauding Bedouins and unwarlike neighbours, had led the 
prince to believe the Nej deans the first army, and himself the 
first general, on earth. Yet take it all in all, it was not mere 
brag, for within the limits of the Peninsula 'Abd- Allah stands a 
fair chance of overriding be it who it may; and Egypt has not 
every century an Ibraheem Basha to command her armies. 

During this time I got a sight of the royal stables, an event 
much desired and eagerly welcomed. For the Nej dean horse is 
considered no less superior to all others of his kind in Arabia, 
than is the Arabian breed collectively to the Persian, Cape of 
Good Hope, or Indian. In Nejlsd is the true birthplace of the 
Arab steed, the primal type, the authentic model. Thus at any 
rate I heard, and thus, so far at least as my experience goes, it 
appears to me ; although I am aware that distinguished autho- 
rities maintain another view. But at any rate, among all the 
studs of Nejed, Feysul's was indisputably the first ; and who 
sees that has seen the most consummate specimens of equine 
perfection in Arabia, perhaps in the world. 

It happened that a mare in the imperial stud had received a 
bite close behind- the shoulder from some sportive comrade ; 
and the wound, ill-dressed and ill-managed, had festered into a 
sore puzzling the most practised Nej dean farriers. One morning 



306 Court Intrigues of Ri'ad [Chap, x 

while Barakat and myself were sitting in 'Abd-Allah's K'hawah, 
a groom entered to give the prince the daily bulletin of his 
stables. 'Abd- Allah turned towards me, and enquired whether 
I would undertake the cure. Gladly I accepted the proposal 
of visiting the patient, though limiting my proffer of services to 
a simple inspection, and declining systematic interference with 
what properly belonged to the veterinary province. The prince 
gave his orders accordingly; and in the afternoon a groom, 
good-natured as grooms generally are, knocked at our door, and 
conducted me straight to the stables. 

These are situated some way out of the town, to the north- 
east, a little to the left of the road which we had followed at our 
first arrival, and not far from the gardens of 'Abd-er-Rahman 
the Wahhabee. They cover a large square space, about 150 
yards each way, and are open in the centre, with a long shed 
running round the inner walls ; under this covering the horses, 
about three hundred in number when I saw them, are picketed 
during night; in the daytime they may stretch their legs at 
pleasure within the central courtyard. The greater number were 
accordingly loose ; a few, however, were tied up at their stalls ; 
some, but not many, had horse-cloths over them. The heavy 
dews which fall in Wadi Haneefah do not permit their remain- 
ing with impunity in the open night air ; I was told also that 
a northerly wind will occasionally injure the animals here, no 
less than the land wind does now and then their brethren in 
India. About half the royal stud was present before me, the 
rest were out at grass ; Feysul's entire muster is reckoned at six 
hundred head, or rather more. 

No Arab dreams of tying up a horse by the neck ; a tether 
replaces the halter; and one of the animal's hind-legs is encircled 
about the pastern by a light iron ring, furnished with a padlock, 
and connected with an iron chain of two feet or thereabouts in 
length, ending in a rope, which is fastened to the ground at 
some distance by an iron peg ; such is the customary method. 
But should the animal be restless and troublesome, a fore-leg is 
put under similar restraint. It is well known that in Arabia 
horses are much less frequently vicious or refractory than in 
Europe, and this is the reason why geldings are here so rare, 
though not unknown. No particular prejudice that I could 
discover exists against the operation itself; only it is seldom 



Chap. X] Cotirt IntvigtteS of R? Cld 307 



/ 



performed, because not otherwise necessary, and tending of 
course to diminish the value of the animal. 

But to return to the horses now before us ; never had I seen 
or imagined so lovely a collection. Their stature was indeed 
somewhat low; I do not think that any came fully up to fifteen 
hands ; fourteen appeared to me about their average ; but they 
were so exquisitely well shaped that want of greater size seemed 
hardly, if at all, a defect. Remarkably ^fijll in the haunches, 
with a shoulder of a slope so elegant as to make one,, in the 
words of an Arab poet, " go raving mad about it;" a little, a very 
little, saddle-backed, just the curve which indicates springiness 
without any weakness ; a head broad above, and tapering down 
to a nose fine enough to verify the phrase of " drinking from a 
pint-pot," did pint-pots exist in Nejed ; a most intelligent and 
yet a singularly gentle look, full eye, sharp thorn-like little ear, 
legs fore and hind that seemed as if made of hammered iron, so 
clean and yet so well twisted with sinew; a neat round hoof, 
just the requisite for hard ground; the tail set on or rather 
thrown out at a perfect arch ; coats smooth, shining, and light ; 
the mane long, but not overgrown nor heavy; and an air and 
step that seemed to say " look at me, am I not pretty % " their 
appearance justified all reputation, all value, all poetry. The 
prevailing colour was chestnut or grey ; a light bay, an iron 
colour, white, or black, were less common ; full bay, flea-bitten, 
or piebald, none. But ifasked what are, after all, the spe- 
cially distinctive points of the Nejdee horse, I should reply, 
the slope of the shoulder, the extreme cleanness of the shank, 
and the full rounderf haunch, though every other part too has 
a perfection and a' harmony unwitnessed (at least by my eyes) 
anywhere else, r 

Unnecessary to say that I had often met with and after a 
fashion studied horses throughout this journey; but I purposely 
deferred saying much about them till this occasion. At Ha'yel 
and in Djebel Shomer I found very good examples of what is 
commonly called the Arab horse : a fine breed, and from among 
which purchases are made every now and then by European 
princes, peers, ^nd commoners, often at astounding prices. 
These are for the most part the produce of a mare from Djebel 
Shomer or its neighbourhood, and a Nejdean stallion, sometimes 
the reverse ; but never, it would seem (although here I am, of 

x 2 



308 Court Intrigues of Ri'ad [Chap, x 

course, open to correction by the " logic of facts "), thorough 
Nejdee on both sides. With all their excellences, these horses 
are less systematically elegant, nor do I remember having ever 
seen one among them free from some one weak point ; perhaps a 
little heaviness in the shoulder, perhaps a slight falling off in 
the rump,, perhaps a shelly or a contracted hoof, or too small 
an eye. Their height also is much more varied ; some of them 
attain sixteen hands, others are down to fourteen. Every one 
knows the customary divisions of their pedigrees : Manakee, 
Siklawee, Hamdanee, Toreyfee, and so forth ; I myself made a 
list of these names during a residence some years previous 
among the Sebaa' and Ru'ala Bedouins, nor did I find any 
difference worth noting between what was then told me and the 
accounts usually given by travellers and authors on this topic. 
Nor did the Bedouins fail to recite their oft-repeated legends 
about Solomon's stables, &c. But I am inclined to consider 
the greater part of these very pedigrees, and still more the an- 
tiquity of their origin, as comparatively recent inventions, and 
of small credit, got up for the market of Bedouins or townsmen. 
Nor is a Kohlanee mare by any means a warrant for a Kohlanee 
stallion ; crossing the breed is an everyday occurrence, even in 
Shomer. Once arrived at this last district, I heard no more of 
Siklawee, Delhamee, or any other like genealogies ; nor were 
Solomon's stables better known to fame than those of Augeus. 
In Nejed I was distinctly assured that no prolonged lists of 
pedigrees were ever kept, and that all enquiries about race are 
limited to the assurance of a good father and a good mother ; 
for Solomon, added the groom, he was much more likely to 
have taken horses from us than we from him ; a remark which 
proved in hirn who made it a certain amount of historical criti- 
cism. In <a word, to be a successful jockey in Nejed requires 
about the same degree of investigation and knowledge that it 
would in Yorkshire, and no more ; perhaps even less, consider- 
ing the stud-books. 

The genuine Nejdean breed, so far as I have hitherto found, 
is to be met with only in Nejed itself; nor are these animals 
common even there ; none but chiefs or individuals of consider- 
able wealth and rank possess them. Nor are they ever sold, at 
least so all declare ; and when I asked how then one could be 
acquired, " by war, by legacy, or by free gift," w% the answer. 




Ckap. xj Court Intrigues of RVad 309 



: - 



In this last manner alone is there a possibility of an isolated 
specimen leaving Nejed, but even that is seldom; and when 
policy requiipg* a present to Egypt, Persia, or Constantinople 
(a circum^ilnce of which I witnessed two instances and heard 
of othe^f), mares are never sent, and the poorest stallions, though 
deserving to pass elsewhere for real beauties, are picked out for 
the purpose. 

'Abd-Allah, Sa'ood, and Mohammed keep their horses in se- 
parate stables, each' one containing a hundred or thereabouts. 
After much enquiry and remark, my companion and I came to 
the conclusion/ftiat the total Nejdean horse-census would not ^r 
sum up abov^ five thousand, and probably falls short even-or 
that number. The fact that here the number of horsemen in 
an army is perfectly inconsiderable when compared to that of 
the camel riders, may be added in confirmation, especially 
since in Nejed horses are never used except for war or parade, 
while all travel work and other drudgery falls on camels, some- 
times* on asses. 

Pretty stories have been circulated about the familiarity 
existing between Arabs, Bedouins in particular, and their steeds ; 
how the foal at its birth is caught in the hands of bystanders, 
not allowed to fall on the ground, how it plays with the children 
of the house, eats and drinks with its master, how he tends it 
when indisposed, whilst it no doubt returns him a similar service 
when occasion requires. That the Arab horse is much gentler, 
and in a general way more intelligent than the close-stabled, 
blinkered, harnessed, condemned-cell-prisoner animal of "merry 
England," I willingly admit; matters, alas ! cannot be otherwise. 
Brought up in close contact with men, and enjoying the compa- 
ratively free use of his senses and limbs, the Arab quadruped is 
in a fair way for developing to full advantage whatever feeling 
and instinct good blood brings with it, nor does this often fail 
to occur. If, however, we come to the particular incidents of 
Arab horse-life just alluded to, they certainly form no general 
rule or etiquette in practice, nor would any Arab be the worse 
thought of for rapping his mare over the nose if she thrust it 
into his porridge, or for leaving nature to do the office of mid- 
wife when she .is in an interesting condition. Still I do not 
mean to say that the creditable anecdotes immortalised in so 
many books may not perhaps take place here and there, but, to 




3 1 o Court Intrigues of RVad [Chap, x 

quote an Arab poet, " I never saw the like nor ever heard." For 
my own personal experience, it goes no farther than feeding 
Arab horses out of my hand, not dish, and prevailing on them, 
better than the spirits of the vasty deep, to come when I did call 
for them. 

After a delightful hour passed in walking up and down among 
these beautiful creatures, attended by grooms professionally 
sensible to all the excellences of horseflesh, I examined the 
iron-grey mare in question, saw another whose appetite was 
ailing, prescribed a treatment which if it did no good could 
certainly do no harm, and left with longing lingering look 
behind, the stables, whither however I subsequently paid not 
unfrequent visits, befitting to a doctor. 

Farther on, when we cross the eastern and southern limits of 
Toweyk, we find the Arab breed rapidly losing in beauty and 
perfection, in size and'strength. The specimens of indigenous 
race that I saw in/Oman considerably resembled the " tattoes " 
of India; but ir/the eastern angle of Arabia the deficiency of 
horses is in £t way made up for by the dromedaries of that 
land. 

Nejdee horses are especially esteemed for great speed and 
endurance of fatigue ; indeed, in this latter quality none come 
up to them. To pass .twenty-four hours on the road without 
drink and without flagging is certainly something ; but to keep 
up the same abstinence and labour conjoined under the burn- 
ing Arabian sky for 4orty-eight hours at a stretch is, I believe, 
peculiar to the animals of the breed. Besides they have a deli- 
cacy, I cannot say of mouth, for it is common to ride them 
without bit or bridle, but of feeling and obedience to the knee 
and thigh, to the slightest check of the halter and the voice of 
the rider, far surpassing whatever the most elaborate manege 
gives a European horse, though furnished with snaffle, curb, 
and all. I often mounted them at the invitation of their owners, 
and" without saddle? rein, or stirrup, set them off at full gallop, 
wheeled them round, brought them up in mid career at a dead 
halt, and that without the least difficulty or the smallest want 
of correspondence between the horse's movements and my own 
will ; the rider on their back really feels himself the man-half 
of a centaur, not a distinct being. This is in great part owing 
to the Arab system of breaking in, much preferable to the 



Chap. X] Court Inti'igues of RV ad 3 1 1 

European in conferring pliancy and perfect tractability. Nor is 
mere speed much valued in a horse unless it be united with the 
above qualities, since whether in the contest of an Arab race, 
or in the pursuit and flight of war, " doubling " is far more the 
rule than " going ahead," at least for any distance. Much the 
same training is required for the sport of the Djereed, that 
tournament of the East, and which, as I witnessed it in Nejed, 
differed in nothing from the exhibitions frequent in Syria and 
Egypt, except that the palm-stick or " Djereed " itself is a little 
lighter. I should add that in the stony plateaus of Nejed, 
horses are always shod, but the shoe is clumsy and heavy; the 
hoof is very slightly pared, and the number of nails put in in- 
variably six. Were not the horn excellent, Nejdean farriery 
would lame many a fine horse. 

While we advanced in 'Abd-Allah's good graces, and pre- 
scribed now for his four-legged and now for his two-legged' 
servants, Mahboob, moved by the encomiums of his father, 
Djowhar, condescended to pay us a visit, which prudence had 
prevented us from the courtesy of anticipating. Prime minister 
Mahboob, and what a prime minister ! Luckily for me, Aboo- 
'Eysa had so often given me his excellency's portrait, that I did 
not mistake him at his first entrance, but my companion 
Barakat did, and could hardly believe when told that the indi- 
vidual before him was the main column of Nejed and of the 
whole Wahhabee empire. 

Born of a Georgian slave-woman, herself a present from 
'Abbas Basha to Feysul at his first accession, Mahboob, now 
about twenty-five years of age, presented so very boyish, so un- 
Nejdean, so un-Arab an appearance, that I was utterly startled. 
His father is Djowhar, our black patient — I mean his legal 
father ; for so white a complexion, such smooth streaky hair, 
such blue eyes, such symmetrically proportioned limbs, never 
owned a black for physical parent, unless indeed my study and 
my books be false, and my observations too. The fact is, that 
while the official tongue, with a prudence which I shall imi- 
tate throughout my narrative, designates Djowhar as father of 
the prime minister, no one high or low entertains a doubt of 
Feysul's own better right to that endearing title. Needs not 
enter into the details of court mysteries or scandal, if scandal 
can find place in Nejed : my readers may take it on my word 



312 Court Intrigues of RVad lchap. x 

that so sure as the Georgian woman is Mahboob's mother, so 
sure Feysul, her first master and possessor, is Mahboob's father.. 

The youth is clever, of that there could be no doubt ; that 
he is daring is equally certain. A taste for general literature, 
and a spirit of research indicative of Caucasian origin, may 
also be remarked in him. But vanity, imprudence, overbearing 
pride, despotic cruelty, and a levity of manner strangely con- 
trasting with the gravity customary at Ri'ad, are equally the 
share of Mahboob, nor any wonder, considering his origin and 
palace education. These faults are however in a measure veiled, 
nay, rendered almost becoming, by a manly independence of 
thought and manner, an outspoken tone, and a hearty cheerful- 
ness at times, not generally found in the Nejdeans around him; 
qualities certainly due to his mother rather than to his father, 
whoever that may be. Last, not least perhaps, he is remark- 
ably handsome, almost beautiful, a thorough Georgian ; in a 
word, Byron's Arnold in the strange dream of the " Deformed 
Transformed," came often in my mind while conversing with 
the graceful but bloodstained Mahboob. Thus endowed in 
mind and body, this half-caste Caucasian stripling, at an age 
when well-born Englishmen are being plucked in the Schools, 
or serving as cornets or midshipmen, leads by the nose the old 
tyrant of Nejed, browbeats his terrible son, commands the 
servility of courtiers, chiefs, and Zelators, and wields almost 
alone the destinies of more than half the Arabian Peninsula. 

Mahboob's first visit to us was very characteristic. Little 
ceremony, much familiarity, a second question asked before 
the first was answered, everything rapidly examined — books, 
drugs, dress, and all ; a cup of coffee hastily swallowed, a word 
of encouragement and patronage, a very European shake of the 
hand, and then farewell till next meeting. 

Aboo-'Eysa, whose main prop at court was no other than 
Mahboob, and whose lot was now in a way bound up with our 
own, was extremely anxious that this first interview should be 
followed up by a closer intimacy, nor was I at all reluctant to 
study more at leisure so exceptional and at the same time so 
important a personage. To this end I returned the call next 
day, in company with Aboo-'Eysa. 

Mahboob was seated in Djowhar's divan. To Aboo-'Eysa he 
showed all the familiarity of an old patron, and extended much 



Chap, x] Court Intrigues of Ri y ad 3 1 3 

of the same hand-in-hand manner to myself. But this time he 
pushed his interrogations further than before, and I discovered 
that the minister did me the honour of supposing me of similar 
origin with himself, namely, an Egyptian by country, and born 
of a Georgian or Circassian. Such a supposition had in Ei'ad 
a very peculiar bearing, and influenced not a little the events 
which followed. 

Mahboob was inwardly convinced that / we were in reality 
more or less spies, sent by the Egyptian government, probably 
with reference to the Kaseem war and the siege of 'Oneyzah, 
This was no bad conjecture; the route we had traversed, the 
books in our possession, the very fact of (comparatively) 
superior medical knowledge, my own pronunciation, all tended 
to justify this idea. Not that Mahboob said it in so many 
words, but it was easy to perceive the drift of his thought, the 
more so from his careless and desultory manner. Meanwhile 
Mohammed, 'Abd-el-Lateef's younger brother, had got up an 
enormous lie of his having personally known me while in 
Egypt, of all my past history and present intentions ; a series 
of fictions readily contradicted, but not to be with equal readi- 
ness effaced. 

After this first meeting in Djowhar's K'hawah, Mahboob 
opened to me his own, and there I often passed several hours 
of the succeeding days. His library was the most copious that 
I had yet seen in Arabia ; it consisted of the works of many 
well-known poets, among whom were Ebn-el-'Atiheeyah, Mo- 
tenebbi, Aboo-l-'Ola, besides the Divan of Hariri, the Hamasa, 
and other works of classic Arab literature ; along with these, 
treatises on law and religion by Malekee and Hanbelee au- 
thors, commentaries on the Coran, books of travels, touching 
whose authenticity least said were soonest mended; geogra- 
phical treatises, dividing the world into seven regions, of which 
Arabia was of course the first and by far the greatest, and much 
else of like manufacture. The most interesting work for me 
was a manuscript history of the Wahhabee empire, preceded 
by a general sketch of Arab annals ; the ante-Islamitic portion 
closely resembled that given by Aboo-1-Feda, perhaps was 
copied from hirn ; the space intervening between the wars of 
Khalid-ebn-el-Waleed and the rise of the Sa'ood dynasty, re- 
lated to Nejed alone. Account books, muster rolls, official 



314 Court Intrigues of RVad [Chap, x 

correspondence and the like, were stowed away in a large side 
cabinet ; but the folding doors were frequently left open, and 
I was able to get an occasional look at the documents, of which 
my Arab census in the last chapter is in a great measure an ex- 
tract. Mahboob raised hardly any difficulty to my taking notes 
or copying passages, especially out of the literary works ; I 
regret that some of the papers then written were lost in the 
subsequent casualties of my journey. 

The prime minister promised much and did something. He 
took care that we should be duly supplied from the palace with 
the entire list of Nejdean luxuries — butcher's meat and coffee — 
besides making me a handsome present of ready money, which 
I accepted in hopes of thereby lessening his preconceived sus- 
picians. But his eye was always on me with the restless unsa- 
tisfied expression of one who pries into deep water for something 
at the bottom and cannot quite distinguish it ; however, a sup- 
posed sympathy of race inclined him to be friendly. 

Meanwhile both Mahboob and 'Abd-Allah made fun of the 
old Na'ib to their hearts' content; and he too in his turn 
fleered at them. The Persian, finding Feysul hopelessly cold 
in his cause, resolved on a visit to his son and heir, and having 
arrayed himself in all his finery, called at the prince's palace. 
When introduced into the K'hawah, he found 'Abd-Allah 
stretched out on the carpet Bedouin-fashion, back uppermost, 
with a cushion under his elbows to prop him up, and much in 
the position of a dog when he puts his muzzle on his fore-paws 
and looks at you. "Welcome," said the gracious prince to the 
approaching ambassador, and motioned him to sit down, with- 
out the while changing his own unceremonious posture. Then, 
after a minute of staring, " Is your beard dyed % " was the 
first princely question. I should say that staining the hair is 
looked on by Wahhabees as an unlawful encroachment on the 
rights of the Creator to bestow on His creatures whatever 
colouring He chooses. The Na'ib in a grave but somewhat 
vexed tone allowed that his beard was dyed, and asked what 
was the matter even if it were % " Because," replied 'Abd-Allah, 
" we consider such a practice to be highly improper." Whereto 
the Na'ib dryly answered, that the Persians thought otherwise. 
" Are you a Sonnee or a Shiya'ee V next enquired the reclining 
majesty. The Na'ib's patience, always scant, was now at an 



Chap, x] Court Intrigues of ' Ri } ad 315 

end. " I am a Shiya'ee, and my father was a Shiya'ee, and my 
grandfather was a Shiya'ee, and we are all Shiya'ees," answered 
he, in a tone of downright passion ; " but you, 'Abd- Allah, what 
are you, a prince or a chaplain 1 " The whole in that broken 
Arabic which rendered anger impossible. " A prince," replied 
'Abd-Allah, looking very big. " Because," rejoined the Persian, 
" I thought from your questions you were a chaplain; and if you 
are indeed so, get you off to the mosque ; that is the place, not 
a palace, for one who talks in your styles 'Abd-Allah burst 
out laughing, and made an apology worse than the fault, by 
pretending ignorance of diplomatic usages and the respect due 
to ambassadors, and then changed the discourse. All this was 
nohow real levity or clownishness in the Nejdee ; his insolence 
was the result of cool and deliberate calculation, designed to 
bring the Persian down to the right point for the bargain already 
resolved on by Feysul and his son. The Na'ib came away in 
a fury against the Bedouin, and 'Aboo-Eysa had much ado to 
prevent his leaving the capital in a huff that very day. 

Nor was he more successful with Mahboob, to whom he paid 
many ceremonious visits, in hope of gaining his influence with 
the old king, and never without hearing something premedi- 
tatedly offensive on the score of Persians and Shiya'ees. These 
last, among their many other fancies, have an excessive and 
superstitious reverence for the written names of holy person- 
ages, and hold the wilful destruction of such words to be an 
atrocious crime. On one occasion, while the Na'ib was present 
in the divan, Mahboob received some letters bearing the cus- 
tomary heading, " In the name of God." These letters the 
minister read, and then, before the Persian's face, tore them 
across and threw them into the fire burning on the hearth. 
Mohammed-' Alee nearly fainted with horror. But worse fol- 
lowed. The Shirazee had with him a silver drinking-cup of 
Persian workmanship, and beautifully embossed, with the, five 
names so venerated by Persians — Mohammed, 'Alee, Fatimah, 
Hasan, and Hoseyn — worked on the rim. This goblet he one 
day brought with him to the palace, with the view of "astonish- 
ing the natives." Mahboob took it in his hand, turned it round, 
and on reading the characters about the edge exclaimed, "What 
are these abominable inscriptions *? " and flung the cup on the 
ground. The Na'ib's feelings may be better imagined than 



3 1 6 Court Intrigues of Ri'ad [Chap, x 

described. During the quiet evening hours that we often passed 
in his cool upper apartments, smoking his Nargheelahs and 
talking over the events of the day, we had the advantage of 
hearing from his own mouth all these incidents, and many more 
of like tenor. 

A comical event which occurred about this time brought 
matters, as they say, to a crisis, and by its pre-eminent absurdity 
rescued the Na'ib from further outrages to his Shiya'ee feelings. 
I have already said that morning and evening roll-calls were 
daily read in the mosques belonging to the several quarters of 
the town, and that absentees were liable to very practical ad- 
monitions towards better attendance in future. Of course 
neither the Na'ib and his men as Shiya'ees, nor Barakat and 
myself as Christians, troubled ourselves much with Wahhabee 
congregational attendance. One morning the "Zelator" super- 
intendent of the mosque, to which according to our place of 
residence we were supposed to belong, took it into his head 
that infidels or not we were bound in common decency to act 
like orthodox Muslims : " cum Romae fueris, Romano vivitur 
usu." Accordingly our two names, with those of the Na'ib and 
his posse, were read out among the rest, but there was no voice 
nor any that answered. Hereon the indignant Zelator collected 
a pious band armed with sticks and staves ; and a little before 
sunrise presented himself at our door, the nearest on his rounds. 
Luckily the door was bolted from within, while Barakat, Aboo- 
'Eysa, and myself were, in place of prayers and ablutions, 
smoking our morning pipes over a very excellent cup of coffee. 
When Aboo-'Eysa heard the knock, which his bad conscience 
at once interpreted, he was terribly frightened, knowing by 
experience that Wahhabee fanaticism when once up is no trifling 
matter. Turning quite pale, he begged us to return no answer 
to the summons, but to hide ourselves within an inner chamber. 
Barakat, on the contrary, with all the courage of a Zahlawee, 
determined to face the danger, went right to the door, opened 
it suddenly, and stepping out slammed it to as suddenly behind 
him, without giving the visitors time to enter. Next ensued 
the following parley in the street : — 

"Why did you not come to prayers this morning V 9 "We 
have already said our prayers ; what kind of atheists do you 
take us for?" "Why then did you not answer when your 



chap, x] Court Intrigue s of Ri'ad 3 1 7 

names were called over*?" enquired the Zelator, supposing from 
the other's ready equivocation that we must have been somehow 
or other at the mosque. " We imagined that you Wahhabees 
had some peculiar ceremony of your own which did not concern 
us foreigners; how' are we to know all your customs?" replied 
the unabashed Barakat. " Who was your right-hand man when 
you stood up to prayer 1 ?" enquired the doubting cross-ques- 
tioner. "Some Bedouin or other; is it my business to know all 
the Bedouins in Ri'adT answered my companion. "And who 
was on your left?" "The wall." Which last was said with 
such an air of innocence and unconcern, that the stick-bearers 
knew not what to make of it. So, like good Arabs, they allowed 
us the benefit of doubt, and passed on after an admonition to 
be regular in our religious duties. " If God wills it," was the 
vague but orthodox answer. 

From our door the holy squadron passed to that of the Na'ib. 
Here a thundering knock was at once answered by 'Alee, the 
younger servant, who with unsuspecting rashness flung the 
entrance wide open. No quarter to Persians : " Throw him 
down, beat him, purify his hide," was shouted out on all sides, 
and the foremost laid hold of the astonished Shiya'ee to inflict 
the legal chastisement. But 'Alee was a big strapping lad, and 
not easily floored; he soon tore himself away from his well- 
intentioned executioners, and rushed into the interior of the 
house calling madly for aid on his brother Hasan. Out came 
the elder with a pistol in either hand, while 'Alee having picked 
up a dagger brandished it fearfully; and the old Na'ib, aroused 
from sleep in his upstairs bedroom, leaned over the parapet 
in his dressing-gown, like Shelley's " grey tyrant father," and 
screamed out from above Persian threats and curses. The 
Zelators turned tail and fled in ' confusion ; 'Alee and Hasan 
ran after, sword and pistol in hand, half-way down the street, 
beating one, kicking another, and leaving a third sprawling in 
the dust. 

Without delay the Na'ib donned his clothes and went to the 
palace, there to demand justice for the housebreaking aggres- 
sion thus committed, and to protest very reasonably this time 
against the absurdity of compulsory attendance on divine wor- 
ship. We did not think it necessary to accompany him, since 
our affair had at any rate ended smoothly. But Aboo-'Eysa, 



3 1 8 Court Intrigues of RVad [Chap, x 

who had gone with the Na'ib, played the orator in our behalf. 
The result was a royal order issued to the Zelators not to 
trouble themselves further about us and our doings ; while, in 
compensation for past insults, the Persian ambassador was 
henceforth treated at the palace with greater decency by 
Mahboob and his crew. 

It may be well to recount at once the remainder of Moham- 
med-' Alee's fortunes at Ri'ad. After a month of veering and 
tacking, speeding to-day, put back to-morrow, and never getting 
nearer to the point, Aboo-'Eysa told him plainly what he had 
already suggested more than once, but without effect — that in 
the Wahhabee capital it was money, and money alone, that 
could make the mare to- go, and that if he desired a speedy and 
a favourable solution of his difficulties, he had only to make 
some judicious offerings, and all would be well. 

Sad news this to Mohammed-' Alee, close-fisted as Persians 
usually are ; however, he had no other course open. Next day 
the double-barrelled fowling-piece went to 'Abd-Allah, the tea- 
making machine to Mahboob, a beautiful ruby found its way to 
"Feys ul's inner chamber; and I believe -that the king's fair 
daughter, the she-secretary of the cabinet, obtained her share 
of the gifts. The effect was magical. Instantaneously, a mag- 
nificent letter of apology for " past accidents " was drawn up, 
addressed to the Shah, and signed by Feysul, wherein all the 
blame of whatever had befallen the caravan was safely thrown 
on the luckless Aboo-Boteyn, now a refugee among the " in- 
fidels" at 'Oneyzah; but no sooner should Heaven have de- 
livered him up to the vengeance of the faithful, than the wretch 
should be put in irons and sent to Teheran to answer for him- 
self before the majesty of Persia, unless indeed he were killed 
first, as might be hopefully anticipated. Not a word about 
Mohanna. Nor a word either (I read the document myself) 
about costs and damages, except what Aboo-Boteyn was to 
refund — when the hare was caught, which, please God, should 
soon be the case. 

In conclusion, the better to stop the Na'ib's mouth, and to 
prevent too urgent representations on the score of his plundered 
followers, some presents were offered him. An elderly horse, 
which might at Bombay have brought two hundred rupees or 
thereabouts ; a camel, worth in Nejed from six to seven rials, 



Chap, xj Court Intrigues of Ri'ad 3 j 9 

somewhat less than two pounds English ; three or four cloaks 
of Has a manufacture, and of second-rate quality, were thrown 
as a sop to Cerberus, and greedily swallowed. The Na'ib was 
no judge of horse-flesh or camel-flesh either ; the cloaks too 
were new to him, and he very properly supposed the gift-horse 
and raiment to be each the very best in their kind. In return 
he pledged his word that the Persian pilgrims should continue 
to pursue the route of Nejed, and pay for it also. It was a 
scoundrelly business from beginning tocend, and did little 
honour either to the merchandising Sultan of Nejed and his 
subordinates or to the Persian who deliberately sold his coun- 
trymen's rights and the interests of his government for an old 
horse, an old camel, and some old cloaks. 

As a corollary to these manoeuvres, Aboo-'Eysa procured for 
himself a royal patent naming him head conductor from the 
Persian coast to Mecca of all future pilgrim bands, to the 
permanent exclusion of competitors ; a measure which had at 
least the advantage of ensuring to the unlucky Shiya'ees a 
certain amount of good treatment while on their road, and of 
putting our friend in possession of emoluments sufficient to meet 
even his own extravagant habits and ostentatious generosity. 

One question yet remained to be settled by Mohammed-'Alee, 
namely, by what road he should return to Meshid and thence 
to Bagdad and Teheran. Winter was setting in, and the land 
route, leading mainly over high ground, might prove disagree- 
ably cold, even in Arabia. This and other valid reasons would 
have led him to prefer the easier and warmer line of journey 
through Hasa, and thence by ship up the Persian Gulf and the 
Shatt-el-'Aarab to Meshid 'Alee, instead of the weary track by 
the mountains of Sedeyr, Zulphah, and the up-country. But 
Mohammed-'Alee was a devout Shiya'ee, and as such must 
needs first consult his luck by counting his beads. Thrice his 
computation notified to him the heaven-sent warning to adopt 
not the former, but the latter path, and this he accordingly did, 
with much loss of time and increase of expense and trouble. 

My readers perhaps know (if they do not, it is worth remark- 
ing) that a Persian, and in fact a Shiya'ee in general, even 
though not by birth a Persian, can do nothing, not so much as 
drink a cup of coffee or light a Nargheelah, without counting 
his luck on his rosary; a ridiculous custom, and justly repro- 



320 Court Intrigues of Ri'ad [Chap, x 

bated by the Wahhabees, whose hatred of magic, spells, charms, 
and the rest of that category^xtends also to divinations and 
omens of whatever sort, dream interpretations, lucky or unlucky 
days, and the like ; a favourable piece of witness which I am 
glad to be able to rentier the Wahhabees. 

In the last week of November, just before our own departure, 
Mohammed-' Alee with all his attendants set off for Sedeyr, and 
in the following spring I was rejoiced on learning at Bagdad 
that he and his had arrived in safety at their journey's end. 

The two Meccan beggars, our companions from IJa'yel hither, 
got a shirt and two rials apiece, with which munificent present 
one of them went to Basrah, where he passed himself off for a 
Sey'yid, and invested in a huge turban ; the other set his face 
westward, and went — I know not whither. We will now resume 
the course of events. 

During these forty days active preparations were making in 
Nejed for the decisive blow to be struck at 'Oneyzah. What 
had hitherto been sent against that town were little more than 
mere skirmishing parties, and consisted of a certain number of 
men from Aflaj and Sedeyr, from Zulphah and Shakra', with a 
few warriors of 'Aared and Yemamah to keep up the spirits of 
the rest, and a younger son of Feysul's to command. The in- 
tention of the Wahhabee council was, that when occasional 
attacks, joined with the half-blockade, should have sufficiently 
weakened their enemy, the whole force of Central and Southern 
Nejed, with that of the great eastern provinces, should be brought 
to bear. The entire expedition was to be entrusted to the 
invincible and murderous 'Abd-Allah. 

The appointed time now drew on, and Yemamah and Hareek 
were ordered to send in their contingent, Soley' and Dowasir 
were called on for their rude militia, while the levy from Hasa 
with the artillery of Kateef was to come, and along with the 
dreaded battalions of 'Aared itself, to complete the besieging 
army. What chance could be left to one isolated town, how- 
ever strong, against such a concentration of assailing force 1 

Zamil and his adherents felt that their ruin was not only 
planned, but certain. No hope remained them from the Shereef 
of Mecca, and Egypt was for them, no less than for the Israelites 
of old, a broken reed. Accordingly, they sent submissive, nay 
suppliant, letters to Feysul, offered allegiance, tribute, and 



chap, xj Court Intrigues of RV ad 321 

obedience, renewed their protestations of orthodoxy, appealed 
to the brotherhood of Islam, and, lastly, rendered the Sultan of 
Nejed responsible for all the evils of war and a city taken by 
storm. Feysul was moved, relented of his purpose, and would 
gladly have accepted a submission so humbly tendered, and the 
refusal of which must draw after it such awful responsibility. 
But Mahboob looked forward with all the ambition of rising 
power to the great extension of Wahhabee prerogative conse- 
quent on the fall of 'Oneyzah; while 'Arjtf- Allah, ferocious in 
the anticipation of success, was no more disposed to let slip a 
lesson in his art, or a laurel leaf from his garland, than he whom 
history or libel reports to have fought the battle of Nimwegen 
with the treaty of Utrecht in his pocket. The Zelators also, on 
their side, besieged the old and vacillating monarch, and urged 
him to unsparing severity. Long consultations were held in the 
palace, and at last Feysul's ultimatum was sent. " Give up Zamil, 
El-Khey'yat, and the other ringleaders of revolt," so ran the 
document, " and then, not till then, will I treat of peace." Death 
was more tolerable to the men of 'Oneyzah than compliance on 
such terms, and no further answer was returned. I myself 
obtained, through Mahboob, a sight of the letter from 'Oneyzah, 
and of the reply, though of course I was not admitted to the 
council itself, for my account of which I depend on current 
report. 

'Abd- Allah made no secret of his joy, and prepared for a 
speedy departure. Meanwhile Feysul sent orders to his second- 
born Sa'ood, to bring up the troops of Hareek, and to hand 
them over when in Ri'ad to his elder brother, whose special 
office as governor of the capital he, Sa'ood, was to fill during 
the absence of the latter at 'Oneyzah. Sa'ood speedily arrived, 
and with him about two hundred horsemen ; the rest of his men, 
more than two thousand, were mounted on camels. When they 
entered Ri'ad, Feysul for the first and the last time during our 
stay, gave a public audience at the palace gate. It was a scene 
for a painter. There sat the blind old tyrant, corpulent, 
decrepit, yet imposing, with his large broad forehead, white 
beard, and thoughtful air, clad in all the simplicity of a Wah- 
habee ; the gold-hafted sword ai his side his only ornament or 
distinction. Beside him the ministers, the officers of his court, 
and a crowd of the nobler and wei%hier citizens. 'Abd- Allah, 



322 Court Intrigues of RVad [Chap, x 

the heir of the throne, was alone absent. Up came Sa'ood with 
the bearing of a hussar officer, richly clad in Cachemire shawls 
and a gold wrought mantle, while man by man followed his red 
dressed cavaliers, their spears over their shoulders, and their 
swords hanging down ; a musket too was slung behind the saddle 
of each warrior ; and the sharp dagger of Hareek glittered in 
every girdle. Next came the common soldiers on camels or 
dromedaries, some with spears only, some with spears and guns, 
till the wide square was filled with armed men and gazing spec- 
tators, as the whole troop drew up before the great autocrat, and 
Sa'ood alighted to bend and kiss his father's hand. " God save 
Feysul ! God give the victory to the armies of the Muslims !" 
was shouted out on every side, and all faces kindled into the 
fierce smile of concentrated enthusiasm and conscious strength. 
Feysul rose from his seat, and placed his son at his side. 
Another moment, and they entered the castle together, whilst 
the troops dispersed to their quarters, chiefly in the Khajik. 

I have noticed that 'Abd-Allah did not appear. Much though 
he rejoiced at an event tending to forward his own aims, yet 
personal jealousy and hatred would not allow him to bear part 
in his brother's reception. Next day Feysul, while seated in 
his private divan with Sa'ood, enquired of him whether he had 
yet seen his elder brother, and, on his negative answer, ordered 
him to pay 'Abd-Allah the first visit. " I am the stranger guest, 
while he is an inhabitant of the town," replied Sa'ood, "and it 
is accordingly his duty to cj#f first on me." Feysul urged his 
orders, but in vain ; Sa'oj$f persisted in refusal. The old king 
at last lost his wonte#' self-command, and, supported by two 
negro slaves, rose tjfstrike his son. "Strike," said Sa'ood, 
bending his shoulcrfs to receive the blow ; " you have me before 
you, but I will ndfgo to my brother's house." The slaves now 
interfered, and JFeysul, abashed at the indecorum of his own 
conduct, permitted Sa'ood to retire without further comment. 

A few hours after, the blind monarch, mounted on a led horse, 
was seen traversing the street which conducts to the palace of 
'Abd-Allah. Arrived there, he related what had just occurred, 
and entreated his son to fulfil the obligation of a first visit. But 
the elder son proved no less intractable than the younger, though 
less excusably. Finally, " It is all my fault, I have treated your 
brother ill," said Feysul ; "he was in the right, and we are in 



Chap. X] Court Intrigues of RV Cld 323 

the wrong. The error must be repaired somehow. Do you come 
along with me to the palace, and we will both together call on 
him in his lodgings ; your visit will thus be coloured by mine, 
and matters will resume their proper course." 'Abd-Allah could 
no longer refuse ; the customary ceremonies of politeness were 
exchanged between the brothers, and the dangers of a gross and 
public scandal so fajf avoided. But Mahboob had been informed 
of all. " Do you/tiow understand the true state of affairs ? " said 
he to Feysul. /By God! you will hardly be in your grave 
when the clash of swords will be heard from 'Aared to Sedeyr." 
Feysul sig^d deeply ; but what remedy where the rivalry of 
the mothers, inherited by the children, is heightened by the 
rivalry of a kingdom ? 

Sa'ood had not been three days in his new quarters within 
the palace, when a tall and handsome attendant came with 
extreme courtesy of demeanour to call me into the presence of 
his master who, said he, was suffering from a toothache or a 
headache, I forget which, and required my professional help 
without delay. On entering the prince's apartments I was met 
by a hearty welcome in the good-humoured style customary 
to Sa'ood, and a loud laifgh when I enquired after his ailment. 
"As well as yourself," he replied; "all I wanted was a pretext 
for having you her#" He then entered freely into conversation, 
and expressed, err at least professed, much sympathy for Egypt. 
The fact is, that being a mortal enemy to 'Abd-Allah, and feeling 
the certainty of a not distant struggle, he would gladly seek 
support from a government whose feelings he can anticipate 
to be on the whole unfriendly to his ultra-Wahhabee brother. 
During the rest of my stay here he repeatedly sent for me, 
showed much good will, possibly sincere, under the idea that 
I was an emissary of Egypt, and thereby contributed to set 
'Abd-Allah against me, in the manner which now remains to 
relate. 

At first we have seen that everything went on very smoothly 
and even favourably with the heir-apparent. But time advanced, 
success provoked jealousy here and there, while closer observa- 
tion awakened suspicions, till the fair sky began to overcloud, 
and there appeared indications of a gathering storm, enough to 
have put us on our guard had we been more cautious than, I 
regret to say, we were. Truth here obliges me to the recital of 

Y 2 



3 24 Court Intrigues of Ri'ad [Chap, x 

more than one imprudence, for which I trust that my European 
readers will bear more indulgence than his royal highness at 
Ei'ad. I put down the circumstances in order to render clearer 
the cause and connection of events. 

Thus, one evening 'Abd-Allah importuned me for a prophy- 
lactic against a toothache which from time to time gave him 
annoyance. I proposed one or two, but he did not approve 
them. At last I suggested that there yet remained one sovereign 
remedy, but that he must keep it a profound secret. " What 
is it V* eagerly enquired the prince. " It consists in tobacco, 
chewed and applied to the tooth, with a lighted pipe to promote 
its action," answered I. The Wahhabee said nothing, but his 
frown spoke much, and I felt I had gone too far. 

Another time he wanted me to pay more regular and specific 
attention to his horse's ailments. For awhile I tried, but with- 
out use, to make him understand that a physician was one 
thing, and a veterinary surgeon another : the truth was, that I 
was seriously afraid of committing some real blunder with his 
mares and colts. But 'Abd-Allah would hear no excuse, till 
finally I cut matters short by saying, "Your highness will please 
to remember that here in your capital I am a doctor of asses, 
not of horses." He understood the hit, and was not over- 
pleased; then laughed a sour laugh, and changed the dis- 
course. 

But worse followed. One night we were at the palace, and 
'Abd-Allah, as often, was for keeping me up till midnight, 
pestering me with medico-scientific enquiries, and exacting for 
^himself a regular course of pharmaceutical lectures, but with- 
out the fees. I was sleepy and tired, and should much have 
preferred going home to bed. Desirous of bringing matters to 
a crisis, I now remained silent, and let his highness's questions 
go by without an answer. "What are you thinking of?" said 
he. After one or two evasive answers, I replied that I was 
thinking of a story regarding the Caliph Haroon-er-Rasheed and 
his well-known jester and boon companion Aboo-Nowas. 'Abd- 
\Allah, who, like all Arabs, relished nothing so much as a story 
of kings and caliphs, eagerly enquired what the tale might be. 
So I informed him that the celebrated caliph had a bad habit of 
sitting up very late, and that he used to keep Aboo-Nowas for 
companion of his vigils at hours when the latter would willingly 



Chap. X] Court Intrigues of R i'ad 325 

have been at rest. One night Haroon was talking at a great 
pace, and Aboo-Nowas remained silent as though wrapped in 
thought. "What are you thinking about 1 ?" asked the caliph. 
"Of nothing/' answered Aboo-Nowas, and relapsed into silence. 
A second time the same question was put, and met with the 
same reply. But on a third interrogation Aboo-Nowas raised 
his head, looked the majesty of Bagdad hard in the face, and 
said, "I am thinking of this" (the Arab^wbrd is, I regret to 
say, that most "unpleasing to a marriea ear," we will render 
it by) "brute, who will neither go himself to bed nor let 
me go." 

'Abd-Allah stared, and hesitated a moment between anger 
and laughter. At last the latter prevailed. "You are at 
liberty," said he, and I took my leave. 

By this time he was ripe for serious displeasure, and the 
Kadee 'Abd-el-Lateef, as I was afterwards informed, with some 
others of like strain, took the opportunity of putting his sus- 
picions on the alert. The first intimation that we received was 
curious enough. 

For a foreigner to enter Ri'ad is not always easy, but to get 
away from it is harder still ; Reynard himself would have been 
justly shy of venturing on this royal cave. There exist in the 
capital of Nejed two approved means of barring the exit against 
those on whom mistrust may have fallen. The first and readiest 
is that of which it has been emphatically said, Stone-dead hath 
no fellow. But should circumstances render the bonds of death 
inexpedient, the bonds of Hymen and a Ri'ad establishment 
may and occasionally do supply their office. By this latter 
proceeding, the more amiable of the two, 'Abd-Allah resolved 
to enchain us. 

Accordingly, one morning arrived at our dwelling an attend- 
ant of the palace, with a smiling face, presage of some good in 
reserve, and many fair speeches. After enquiries about our 
health, comfort, well-being, &c, he added that 'Abd-Allah 
thought we might be desirous of purchasing this or that, and 
begged us to accept of a small present. It was a fair sum of 
money, just twice so much as the ordinary token of good will, 
namely, four riais in place of two. After which the messenger 
took his leave. Aboo-'Eysa had been present at the interview: 
"Be on the look-out," said he, "there is something wrong." 



326 Court Intrigues of Ri'ad [Chap, x 

That very afternoon 'Abd-Allah sent for me, and with abun- 
dance of encomiums and of promises, declared that he could 
not think of letting Ri'ad lose so valuable a physician, that I 
must accordingly take up a permanent abode in the capital, 
where I might rely on his patronage, and on all good things ; 
that he had already resolved on giving me a house and a garden, 
specifying them, with a suitable household, and a fair face to 
keep me company ; he concluded by inviting me to go with- 
out delay and see whether the new abode fitted me, and take 
possession. 

Much and long did I fight off; talked about a winter visit to 
the coast, and coming back in the spring; tried first one pretext 
and then another ; but none would avail, and 'Abd-Allah con- 
tinued to insist. To quiet him, I consented to go and see the 
house. For the intended Calypso, I had ready an argument 
derived from Mahometan law, which put her out of the question, 
but its explanation would require more space than these pages 
can afford. Suffice that it was peremptory, and the "pro- 
posal " came to a premature end. However, the offered house 
and income remained behind. On these points 'Abd-Allah 
hoped to meet with a less efficacious resistance, and indeed 
I doubt if any legislation in the world can supply a valid 
pretext for declining a good salary. So he told one of his 
attendants to show me over the premises, and I for my part 
promised him a categoric answer next morning. 

The house was really good, well situated, with a small garden 
adjoining, nor could any reasonable demur be made on its 
score. A real vagrant Arab physician would, in vulgar phrase, 
have snapped at the offer. But in the question was really " to 
be or not to be," and difficulties when they cannot be turned, 
must be faced. 

On our ensuing meeting I told 'Abd-Allah that we were fully 
sensible of the honour done us, but that we had previously 
made all our engagements for going on to Has a, that we could 
no longer break them, that a return to Ri'ad in the following 
spring might suffice, and that since 'Abd-Allah himself was to 
head in person the expedition against 'Oneyzah, we might well 
await his return before taking up our settled residence in 
the capital, where difficulties might possibly occur during his 
absence; in short, that we could not pass the winter in Nejed, 



Chap, x] Court Intrigues of RV ad 327 

but that we hoped for a second and a longer visit next year. 
However palliated, the refusal could not but be disagreeable; 
'Abd-Allah admitted it with evident reluctance and concealed 
mistrust. 

The winter season was now setting in ; it was the third week 
in November; and a thunder-st^fin, the first we had witnessed 
in Central Arabia, ushered mA marked change for cold in the 
temperature of Wadi Hang&fah. Rain fell abundantly, and 
sent torrents down the dj^f watercourses of 7 the valley, changing 
its large hollows into temporary tanks. None of the streams 
showed, however, any disposition to reach the sea, nor indeed 
could they, for this part of Nejed is entirely hemmed in to the 
east by the Toweyk range. The inhabitants welcomed the 
copious showers, pledges of fertility for the coming year, while 
at 'Oneyzah the same rains produced at least one excellent 
effect, but which I may well defy my readers to guess. The 
hostile armies, commanded by Zamil and Mohammed-ebn- 
Sa'ood, were drawn up in face of each other, and on the point 
of fierce conflict, when the storm burst on them, and by putting 
out the lighted matchlocks of either party, prevented the dis- 
charge of bullets and the effusion of blood. 

The affairs of the Na'ib were nearly terminated, and Aboo- 
'Eysa had received his patents. We now prepared to start east- 
wards, but the day of our departure from Nejed was yet to fix, 
when a sudden explosion of royal ill-will put an end to our inde- 
cision, and necessitated more promptitude than we had hitherto 
intended for our movements. 

In one of my medical cases, the nature of the malady had 
led me to try that powerful though dangerous therapeutic agent, 
strychnia ; and its employment had been followed by prompt 
and unequivocal amelioration. Not that the amendment was, 
I should think, of a permanent character, but of this point the 
Nej deans, who saw no farther than the present effect, were and 
could be no judges, while the high rank of the patient himself, 
an old town chief, drew special attention to the fact Everybody 
talked about it, and the news reached the palace. 

'Abd-Allah had just paid his compulsory visit to Sa'ood, and 
the mutual riyalry of the brothers, now the more exasperated 
by vicinity, was very thinly concealed, or rather not concealed, 
under the formalities of social politeness. Intrigues, treasons, 



328 Court Intrigues of Ri' ad [Chap, x 

violence itself, were hatching beneath the palace walls, and assas- 
sination, whether by the dagger or the bowl, I had better said 
the coffee-cup, would have been quite in keeping, nor likely to 
cause the smallest surprise to any one. Mahboob, too, always 
odious to 'Abd-AUah, was at this moment more so than ever, 
and the minister himself could not fail to foresee his own per- 
sonal peril when time should place undivided and autocratic 
power in the hands of one whom he had so often browbeaten 
and kept in abeyance. Hence he sided with Sa'ood, and by so 
doing heated the furnace of 'Abd-Allah's evil passions one seven 
times more than it was wont to be heated. The nobles of the 
town, the very strangers, all sided with the one or the other of 
the half-brothers, and though FeysuFs life, like the silken thread 
round the monsters in Triermain's " Hall of Fear," yet held the 
tigers back, it might not suffice to restrain some sudden and 
especially some secret spring. 

Now 'Abd-Allah in the course of his amateur lectures had 
learnt enough to know the poisonous qualities of various drugs, 
and of strychnine in particular; and though probably unac- 
quainted with the exploits of European criminals, was fully 
capable of giving them a rival in the East. The cure, or at least 
the relief, just alluded to, had occurred about the 16th of No- 
vember, exactly at the time when I had given him to understand 
our definite refusal of his offers, and when he was in conse- 
quence somewhat uncertain what course next to follow. A day 
or two after he sent for me, expressed his regret at our resolution 
to quit the capital, and begged that we would at least leave 
behind us in his keeping some useful medicines for the public 
benefit, and above all that we would entrust him with that 
powerful drug whose sanitary effects were now the subject of 
general admiration. 

All that I could say about the uselessness, nay, the great 
danger, of pharmacy in unlearned hands, was rejected as a mere 
and insufficient pretext. At last, after much urging, the prince 
ended by saying that for the other ingredients I might omit 
them if I chose, but that the strychnine he must have, and that 
though at the highest price I might fancy to name. 

His real object was perfectly clear, nor could I dream of 
lending a hand, however indirect, to his diabolical designs, nor 
did I see any way open before me but that of a firm though 



Chap, x] Coitrt Intrigues of Ri'ad 329 

polite c^enial. In pursuance, I affected not to suspect his pro- 
jects, and insisted on the dangerous character of the alkaloid, 
till he gave up the charge for the moment, and I left the 
palace. 

Next day he renewed his demands, but to no purpose. A 
third meeting took place; it was the 19th or 20th of the month. 
Beckoning me to his side, he insisted in the most absolute 
manner on having the poison in his possession, and at last, 
laying aside all pretences, made clear the^reasons, though not 
the person for whom he desired it, and declared that he would 
admit of no excuse, conscientious or otherwise. 

He was at the moment sitting in the further end of the 
K'hawah, and I was close by him ; while between us and the 
attendants there present, enough space remained to prevent 
their catching our conversation, if held in an undertone. I 
looked round to assure myself that we could not be overheard, 
and when a flat denial on my part had been met by an equally 
flat rejection and a fresh demand, I turned right towards him, 
lifted up the edge of his head-dress, and said in his ear, " 'Abd- 
Allah, I know well what you want the poison for, and I have no 
mind to be an accomplice in your crimes. You shall never 
have it." 

His face became literally black and swelled with rage ; I never 
saw so perfect a demon before or after. A moment he hesitated 
in silence, then mastered himself, and suddenly changing voice 
and tone began to talk gaily about indifferent subjects. After a 
few minutes he rose, and I returned home. 

There Aboo-'Eysa, Barakat, and myself immediately held 
council to consider what was now to be done. That an out- 
break must shortly take place seemed certain ; to await it was 
dangerous, yet we could not safely leave the town in an over- 
precipitate manner, nor without some kind of permission. We 
resolved together to go on in quiet and caution a few days more, 
to sound the court, make our adieus at Feysul's palace, get a 
good word from Mahboob (no difficult matter), and then slip off 
without attracting too much notice. But our destiny was not 
to run so smoothly. 

On the evening of the 21st we were sitting up late, talking 
over the needful preparations of the journey, and drinking coffee 
with a few good-natured townsmen, who had no objection to a 



330 Court Intrigues of RVad [Chap, x 

contraband smoke ; a practice for which our dwelling had long 
since become famous or infamous, when a rap at the door 
announced 'Abd-Allah — not the prince, but his namesake and 
confidential retainer. " What brings you here at this hour of 
the night?" said we, not overpleased at the honour of his 
visit. 

"The king" (for such is in common Ri'ad parlance the title 
given to the heir-apparent) "sends for you; come with me at 
once," was his short and sharp answer. " Shall Barakat come 
with me % " said I, looking towards my companion. " The king 
wants you alone," replied the messenger. " Shall I bring one 
of my books along with me ?" " There is no need." " Wait 
a few minutes while we get a cup of coffee ready for you." 

This last offer could not in common decency be refused. 
While the ceremony was in performance, I found time to ex- 
change a few words with Aboo-'Eysa and Barakat. They agreed 
to dismiss the guests, and to remain on the alert for the result 
of this nocturnal embassy, easily foreseen to be a threatening 
one, perhaps dangerous. Yet the fact of my companion's not 
being also sent for, seemed to me a guarantee against immediate 
peril. 

The royal messenger and myself then left the house, and pro- 
ceeded in silence and darkness through the winding streets to 
the palace of 'Abd- Allah. Arrived there, a short parley ensued 
between my conductor and the guards, who then resumed their 
post, while the former passed on to give the prince notice, 
leaving me to cool myself for a minute or two in the night air 
of the courtyard. A negro then came out, and beckoned me 
to enter. 

The room was dark, there was no other light than that afforded 
by the flickering gleams of the firewood burning on the hearth. 
At the further end sat 'Abd-Allah, silent and gloomy ; opposite 
to him on the other side was 'Abd-el-Lateef, the successor of 
the Wahhabee, and a few others, Zelators, or belonging to their 
party. Mahboob was seated by 'Abd-el-Lateef, and his pre- 
sence was the only favourable circumstance discernible at a first 
glance. But he too looked unusually serious. At the other 
end of the long hall were a dozen armed attendants, Nej deans 
or negroes. 

When I entered, all remained without movement or return 



Chap. X] 



Cotirt Intrigues of RVad 



33r 



of greeting. I saluted 'Abd- Allah, who replied in an undertone 
and gave me a signal to sit down at a little distance from him 
but on the same side of the divan. My readers may suppose 
that I was not at the moment ambitious of too intimate a 
vicinity. ^ 

After an interval of silence, 'Abd-Allah turned half round 
towards me, and with his blackest look and a deep voice said, 
" I now know perfectly well what you are ; ypu are no doctors, 
you are Christians, spies, and revolutionist^ mufsideen') come 
hither to ruin our religion and state in behalf of those who sent 
you. The penalty for such as you is death, that you know, and 
I am determined to inflict it without delay." 

" Threatened folks live long," thought I, and had no difficulty 
in showing the calm which I really felt. So looking him coolly 
in the face, I replied, " Istaghfir Allah," literally, "Ask pardon 
of God." This is the phrase commonly addressed to one who 
has said something extremely out of place. 

The answer was unexpected ; he started, and said, " Why so % '* 

" Because," I rejoined, " you have just now uttered a sheer 
absurdity. ' Christians,' be it so; but ' spies/ ' revolutionists/ — ■ 
as if we were not known by everybody in your town for quiet 
doctors, neither more nor less ! And then to talk about putting 
me to death ! You cannot, and you dare not." 

"But I can and dare," answered 'Abd-Allah, "and who shall 
prevent me % you shall soon learn that to your cost." 

" Neither can nor dare," repeated I. " We are here your 
father's guests and yours for a month and more, known as such, 
received as such. What have we done to justify a breach of the 
laws of hospitality in Nejed? It is impossible for you to do 
what you say," continued I, thinking the while that it was a 
great deal too possible after all; "the obloquy of the deed 
would be too much for you." 

He remained a moment thoughtful, then said, "As if any one 
need know who did it. I have the means, and can dispose of 
you without talk or rumour. Those who are at my bidding can 
take a suitable time and place for that, without my name being 
ever mentioned in the affair." 

The advantage was now evidently on my side ; I followed it 
up, and said with a quiet laugh, " Neither is that within your 
power. Am I not known to your father, to all in his palace % to 



C 



/ 



33 2 Court Intrigues of RVad [Chap, x 

your own brother Sa'ood among the rest % Is not the fact of 
this my actual visit to you known without your gates 1 Or is 
there no one here V 9 added I, with a glance at Mahboob, "who 
can report elsewhere what you have just now said ? Better for 
you to leave off this nonsense ; do you take me for a child of 
four days old ? " 

He muttered a repetition of his threat. " Bear witness, all 
here present," said I, raising my voice so as to be heard from 
one end of the room to the other, " that if any mishap befalls 
my companion or myself from Ri'ad to the shores of the Persian 
Gulf, it is all 'Abd- Allah's doing. And the consequences shall 
be on his head, worse consequences than he expects or dreams." 

The prince made no reply. All were silent; Mahboob kept 
his eyes steadily fixed on the fireplace ; 'Abd-el-Lateef looked 
much and said nothing. 

" Bring coffee," called out 'Abd-Allah to the servants. Be- 
fore a minute had elapsed, a black slave approached with one 
and only one coffee-cup in his hand. At a second sign from 
his master he came before me and presented it. 

Of course the worst might be conjectured of so unusual and 
solitary a draught. But I thought it highly improbable that 
matters should have been so accurately prepared ; besides, his 
main cause of anger was precisely the refusal of poisons, a fact 
which implied that he had none by him ready for use. So I 
said, " Bismillah," took the cup, looked very hard at 'Abd- 
Allah, drank it off, and then said to the slave, u Pour me out a 
second." This he did; I swallowed it, and said, " Now you may 
take the cup away." 

The desired effect was fully attained. 'Abd-Allah's face 
announced defeat, while the rest of the assembly whispered 
together, The prince turned to 'Abd-el-Lateef and began 
talking about the dangers to which the land was exposed from 
spies, and the wicked designs of infidels for ruining the king- 
dom of the Muslims. The Kadee and his companions chimed 
in, and the story of a pseudo-Darweesh traveller killed at Derey- 
'eeyah, and of another (but who he was I cannot fancy; perhaps 
a Persian, who had, said 'Abd- Allah, been also recognized for 
an intriguer, but had escaped to Mascat, and thus baffled the 
penalty due to his crimes), were now brought forward and 
commented on. Mahboob now at last spoke, but it was to 



Chap, x] Court Intrigues of Riad 333 

ridicule such apprehensions. " The thing is in itself unlikely," 
said he, "and were it so, what harm could they do V 1 alluding 
to my companion and myself. 

On this I took up the word, and a general conversation 
ensued, in which I did my best to explode the idea of spies and 
spymanship, appealed to our own quiet and inoffensive conduct, 
got into a virtuous indignation against such a requital of evil 
for good after all the services which we had rendered court and 
town, and quoted verses of the Coran regarding the wickedness 
of ungrounded suspicion, and the obligation of not judging ill 
without clear evidence. 'Abd-Allah made no direct answer, 
and the others, whatever they may have thought, could not 
support a charge abandoned by their master. 

What amused me not a little was that the Wahhabee prince 
had after all very nearly hit the right nail on the head, and 
that I was snubbing him only for having guessed too well. 
But there was no help for it, and I had the pleasure of seeing, 
that though at heart unchanged in his opinion about us, he 
was yet sufficiently cowed to render a respite certain, and our 
escape thereby practicable. 

This kind of talk continued awhile, and I purposely kept my 
seat, to show the unconcern of innocence, till Mahboob made 
me a sign that I might safely retire. On this I took leave of 
'Abd-Allah and quitted the palace unaccompanied. It was 
now near midnight, not a light to be seen in the houses, not 
a sound to be heard in the streets, the sky too was dark and 
overcast, till, for the first time, a feeling of lonely dread came 
over me, and I confess that more than once I turned my head 
to look and see if no one was following with " evil," as Arabs 
say, in his hand. But there was none, and I reached the quiet 
alley and low door where a gleam through the chinks announced 
the anxious watch of my companions, who now opened the 
entrance, overjoyed at seeing me back sound and safe from so 
critical a parley. 

Our plan for the future was soon formed. A day or two we 
were yet to remain in Ri'ad, lest haste should seem to imply 
fear, and thereby encourage pursuit. But during that period 
we would avoid the palace, out- walks in gardens or after night- 
fall, and keep at home as much as possible. Meanwhile 
Aboo-'Eysa was to get his dromedaries ready, and put them in 



334 Court Intrigues of RVad [Chap, x 

a courtyard immediately adjoining the house, to be laden at a 
moment's notice. 

A band of travellers was to leave Ri'ad for Has a a few days 
later. Aboo-'Eysa gave out publicly that he would accompany 
them to Hofhoof, while we were supposed to intend following 
the northern or Sedeyr track, by which the Na'ib, after many 
reciprocal farewells and assurances of lasting friendship, should 
we ever meet again, had lately departed. Mobeyreek, a black 
servant in Abop^Eysa's pay, occupied himself diligently in 
feeding up tiae camels for their long march with clover and 
vetches, trtfui abundant here; and we continued our medical 
avocations, but quietly, and without much leaving the house. 
At the palace all were busy about the departure of the IJareek 
contingent, which now set out on its 'Oneyzah way by Shakra', 
but marched, contrary to expectation, without 'Abd-Allah, that 
prince reserving himself for the arrival of the artillery, which 
was daily expected from Hasa, under the charge of Mohammed 
es-Sedeyree. Amid all this movement and bustle no particular 
enquiry was made after us ; the tempest had been followed by a 
lull, and it was ours to take advantage of this interval before a 
new and a worse outburst. 

During the afternoon of the 24th we brought three of Aboo- 
'Eysa' s camels into our courtyard, shut the outer door, packed 
and laded. We then awaited the moment of evening prayer ; 
it came, and the voice of the Mu'ecldineen summoned all good 
Wahhabees, the men of the town-guard not excepted, to the 
different mosques. When about ten minutes had gone by, and 
all might be supposed at their prayers, we opened our door. 
Mobeyreek gave a glance up and down the street to ascertain 
that no one was in sight, and we led out the camels. Aboo-'Eysa 
accompanied us. Avoiding the larger thoroughfares, we took 
our way by bye-lanes and side passages towards a small town- 
gate, the nearest to our house, and opening on the north. A 
late comer fell in with us pn his way to the Mesjid, and as he 
passed summoned us also to the public service. But Aboo-'Eysa 
unhesitatingly replied, " We \ have this moment come from 
prayers," and our interlocutor^ fearing to be himself too late 
and thus to fall under reprehension and punishment, rushed off 
to the nearest oratory, leaving thl. road clear. Nobody was in 
watch at the gate. We crossed its "threshold, turned south-east, 



Chap, x] Court Intrigues of RV ad 335 

and under the rapid twilight reached a range of small hillocks, 
behind which we sheltered ourselves till the stars came out, 
and the " wing of night," to quote Arab poets, spread black over 
town and country. 

We drew a long breath, like men just let out of a dungeon, 
and thanked heaven that this much was over. Then, after the 
first hour of night had gone over, and chance passers-by had 
ceased, and left us free from challenge and answer, we lighted 
our camp-fire, drank a most refreshing cup^Sf coffee, set our 
pipes to work, and laughed in our turn at 'Abd- Allah and 
Feysul. 

So far so good. But further difficulties remained before us. It 
was now more than ever absolutely essential to get clear of Nejed 
unobserved, to put the desert between us and the Wahhabee 
court and capital ; and no less necessary was it that Aboo-'Eysa, 
so closely connected as he was with Ri'ad and its government, 
should seem nohow implicated in our unceremonious departure, 
nor any way concerned with our onward movements. In a 
word, an apparent separation of paths between him and us was 
necessary, before we could again come together and complete 
the remainder of our explorations. 

In order to manage this, and while ensuring our own safety 
to throw a little dust in Wahhabee eyes, it was agreed that 
before next morning's sunrise Aboo-'Eysa should return to the 
town, and to his dwelling, as though nothing had occurred, and 
should there await the departure of the great merchant caravan, 
mentioned previously, and composed mainly of men from 
Hasa and Kateef, now bound for Hofhoof under the guidance 
of Aboo-Dahir-el-Ghannam. This assemblage was expected to 
start within three days at latest. Meanwhile our friend should 
take care to show himself openly in the palaces of Feysul and 
'Abd-Allah, and if asked about us should answer vaguely, with 
the off-hand air of one who had no further care regarding us. 
We ourselves should in the interim make the best of our way, 
with Mobeyreek for guide, to Wadi Soley', and there remain 
concealed in a given spot, till Aboo-'Eysa should come and pick 
us up. 

All this was arranged ; at break of dawn Aboo-'Eysa took his 
leave, and Barakat, Mobeyreek, and myself, were once more 
high perched on our dromedaries, their heads turned to the 



336 Court Intrigues of Ri'ad [Chap, x 

south-east, keeping the hillock range between us and Ri'ad, 
which we saw no more. Our path led us over low undulating 
ground, a continuation of Wadi IJaneefah, till after about four 
hours' march we were before the gates of Manfoohah, a con- 
siderable town, surrounded by gardens nothing inferior in ex- 
tent and fertility to those of Ri'ad; but its fortifications, once 
strong, have long since been dismantled and broken down by 
the jealousy of the neighbouring capital. In point of climate 
this town is preferable to Ri'ad, because situated on higher 
ground, and above the damp mists which often gather in the 
depths of the Wadi ; but in a military view it is inferior to the 
capital, because in a more exposed and less easily guarded 
position. Passing Manfoohah without entering it, our road 
dipped down again, and we found ourselves in Wadi Soley', a 
long valley, originating in the desert between Hareek and 
Yemamah, and running far to the north. 

After winding here and there, we reached the spot assigned 
by Aboo-'Eysa for our hiding-place. It was a small sandy 
depth, lying some way off the beaten track, amid hillocks and 
brushwood, and without water: of this latter article we had 
taken enough in the goat-skins to last us for three days. Here 
we halted, and made up our minds to patience and expectation. 

Two days passed drearily enough. We could not but long 
for our guide's arrival, nor be wholly without fear on more than 
one score. Once or twice a stray peasant stumbled on us, and 
was much surprised at our encampment in so droughty a 
locality. Sometimes leaving our dromedaries crouching down, 
and concealed among the shrubs, we wandered up the valley, 
climbed the high chalky cliffs of Toweyk, to gain a distant 
glimpse of the blue sierra of Hareek in the far south, and the 
white ranges of Toweyk north and east. Or we dodged the 
numerous nor over-shy herds of gazelles, not for any desire of 
catching them, but simply to pass the time, and distract the 
mind weary of conjecture. So the hours went by, till the third 
day brought closer expectation and anxiety, still increasing 
while the sun declined, and at last went down; yet nobody 
appeared. But just as darkness closed in, and we were sitting 
in a dispirited group beside our little fire, for the night air blew 
chill, Aboo-'Eysa came suddenly up, and all was changed for 
question and answer, for cheerfulness and laughter. 




k 



Chap, x] Journey to Hofhoof 337 

He now related, amid many jokes and congratulations, how 
on the very day he had left us, he had called on 'Abd- Allah, and 
to his question, " What is become of those two Christians ] " 
had answered by a gratuitous supposition of our being some- 
where on the road to Zobeyr; how Mahboob had also enquired 
after us, and met with a similar answer; how comments had 
been passed on us, some favourable, others unfavourable ; what 
wild suppositions had circulated concerning our origin and our 
purposes ; how some had opined us to be envoys from Constan- 
tinople, and some from Egypt (good luck that no one hit on 
Europe), with much of like tenor, now matter of mirth. Dahir- 
el-Ghannam was halting a little farther on with his band ; we 
were to join them next morning. 

Early on November 28th we resumed our march through a 
light valley-mist, and soon fell in with our companions of the 
road. They were numerous, but I spare my reader a minute 
description, since they presented nothing very different from 
what we have already met. 

The first day led us out of Wadi SoleyV We traversed the 
outskirting plantations of Salemee'yah, a large fortified village. 
Here is the ordinary abode of Sa'ood, our former friend, and 
second son of Feysul, when not absent, which is often the case, 
in Hootah and the Hareek. The country around is the most 
fertile of the Yemamah, and the paradise of Nejed ; but the 
vegetation, trees, or plants, differ little from that of Wadi Ha- 
neefah, except in greater continuity of extent and depth of 
green. Cotton alone by its frequency forms an exception to 
the uniformity of palm-groves, maize, and millet, more than 
elsewhere. 

Much to my regret, our caravan passed on without halting, 
and soon after, turning a little to the north, we entered a long 
gorge cleft in the limestone wall of Toweyk, and mounted for 
about three hundred feet till we came on a high broad steppe, 
where a scanty pasturage, just enough to brown the chalky soil I 
here and there, maintained a few herds of sheep-like goats, or 
goat-like sheep; while the dreary ascents and descents reminded 
me of scenes in Scotland, save that fir and pine were here 
wanting. We were long in traversing this waste, until towards 
evening we came on a patch of greener soil, and a cluster of 

z 



333 



Journey to Hofhoof 



[Chap. X 



mam* 



wells, the Lakey'yat by name, and here we encamped for a 
very cold night. 

Next morning the whole country, hill and dale, trees and 
bushes, was wrapped in a thick blanket of mist, fitter for Surrey 
than for Arabia. So dense was the milky fog, that we fairly 
lost our way, and went on at random, shouting and hallooing, 
driving our beasts now here, now there, over broken ground 
and amid tangling shrubs, till the sun gained strength, and the 
vapour cleared off, showing us the path at some distance on 
our right. Before we had followed it far, we saw a black mass 
advancing from the east to meet us. It was the first division 
of the Hasa troops on their way to Ri'ad; they were not less 
than four or five hundred in number. Like true Arabs, they 
marched with a noble contempt of order and discipline — walk- 
ing, galloping, ambling, singing, shouting, alone or in bands, as 
fancy led. We interchanged a few words of greeting with these 
brisk boys, who avowed, without hesitation or shame, that 
they should much have preferred to stay at home, and that en- 
forced necessity, not any military or religious ardour, was taking 
them to the field. We laughed, and wished them Zamil's 
head, or him theirs, whereon they laughed also, shouted, and 
passed on. 

Whilst hereabouts, we caught a magnificent southward view of 
the Hareek, to which we were now opposite, though separated 
from it by a streak of desert. Its hills lie east and west in a 
ragged and isolated chain, which was apparently sixty miles or 
more in length. Thus girdled by the desert, Hareek must 
Heeds be a very hot district; indeed, its name (literally, "burn- 
ing ") implies no less, and the dusky tint of its inhabitants con- 
•ftfths the fact. We could not at such a distance distinguish any 
towns or castles in particular; only the situation of the capital, 
Hootah, was pointed out to us by the knowing ones of our 
band. It was curious also to see how suddenly, almost ab- 
ruptly, Djebel Toweyk ended in the desert, going down in a 
rapid series of precipitous steps, the last of which plunges sheer 
into the waste of sand. Toweyk is here mainly limestone, but 
in some spots iron-ore is to be found, in some copper ; Aboo- 
'Eysa pointed out to us a hill, the appearance of which pro- 
mised the latter metal, with the remark that Europeans, were 
they here, would make good use of it. 



( 



Chap, xj Journey to Hofhoof 339 

On we went, but through a country of much more varied 
scenery than what we had traversed the day before, enjoying 
the " pleasure situate in hill and dale," till we arrived at the foot 
of a high white cliff, almost like that of Dover; but these crags, 
instead of having the sea at their foot, overlooked a wide valley 
full of trees, and bearing traces of jtfany violent winter torrents 
from east to west ; none were n^fw flowing. Here we halted 
and passed an indifferent nigjfrt, much annoyed by " chill No- 
vember's surly blast," harcJJ^ less ungenial/ here than on the 
banks of Ayr, though sweeping over a latitude of 25 , not 5 6°. 

Before the starlight nad faded from the cold morning sky, 
we were up and in movement, for a long march was before us. 
After a little parleying, so to speak, with the mountain, we 
climbed it by a steep winding path, hard of ascent to the 
camels, of whom Arabs report that when asked which they like 
best, going up hill or going down, they answer, "A curse light 
on them both." At sunrise we stood on the last and here 
the highest ledge of Toweyk, that long chalky wall which 
bounds and backs up Nejed on the east; beyond is the desert, 
and then the coast. The view now opened to us was very ex- 
tensive, and the keen air made all the more sensible our eleva- 
tion above the far-off plains, that hence showed like a faintly- 
ribbed sea-surface to the west. Neither man nor beast, tree 
nor shrub, appeared around ; marl and pebbles formed the 
plateau, all dry and dreary under a cold wind and a hot sun. 

After about three hours of level route we began to descend, 
not rapidly, but by degrees, and at noon we reached a singular 
depression, a huge natural basin, hollowed out in the limestone 
rock, with tracks resembling deep trenches leading to it from 
every side. At the bottom of this crater-like valley were a dozen 
or more wells, so abundant in their supply that they not unfre- 
quently overflow the whole space and form a small lake; the 
water is clear and good, but no other is to be met with on 
the entire line hence to IJasa. At these wells (whose geogra- 
phical position has earned them the name of Oweysit, the 
diminutive of Owset, or centre) meet several converging roads ; 
the last being the eastward path, leading to Hasa and Hofhoof, 
by which we were now to travel. All the flocks and herds of 
the adjoining mountain region resort hither to drink. 

We now rested awhile, prepared a cup of coffee, filled our 

z 2 



340 Journey to Hofhoof [Chap, x 

\fater-skins almost to bursting, and then with the briskness of 
men who have made up their minds to a hard pull, remounted 
our dromedaries and emerged from the crater by its eastern 
outlet. For the rest of the day we continued steadily to descend 
the broad even slope, whose extreme barrenness and inanimate 
monotony reminded me of the pebbly uplands near Ma'an on 
the opposite side of the Peninsula, traversed by us exactly seven 
months before. The sun set, night came on, and many of the 
travellers would gladly have halted, but Aboo-'Eysa insisted on 
continuing the march. We were now many hundred feet lower 
than the crest behind us, and the air felt warm and heavy, when 
we noticed that the ground, hitherto hard beneath our feet, was 
changing step by step into a light sand that seemed to encroach 
on the rocky soil. It was at first a shallow ripple, then deep- 
ened, and before long presented the well-known ridges and un- 
dulations characteristic of the land ocean when several fathoms 
in depth. Our beasts ploughed laboriously on through the 
yielding surface ; the night was dark, but starry ; and we could 
just discern amid the shade a white glimmer of spectral sand- 
hills rising around us on every side, but no track or indication 
of a route. 

It was the great Dahna, or "Red Desert," the bugbear of even 
the wandering Bedouin, and never traversed by ordinary way- 
farers without an apprehension which has too often been justi- 
fied by fatal incidents. So light are the sands, so capricious the 
breezes that shape and reshape them daily into unstable hills 
and valleys, that no traces of preceding travellers remain to those 
who follow; while intense heat and glaring light reflected on 
all sides combine with drought and weariness to confuse and 
bewilder the adventurer, till he loses his compass and wanders 
up and down at random amid a waste solitude which soon 
becomes his grave. Many have thus perished ; even whole 
caravans have been known to disappear in the Dahna without 
a vestige ; till the wild Arab tales of demons carrying off wan- 
derers, or ghouls devouring them, obtain a half credit among 
many accustomed elsewhere to laugh at such fictions. However, 
will they, nill they, merchants, travellers, messengers, armies — 
in a word, all who pass to and fro between the populous Has a 
and the imperial Nejed — must cross this desert, and that by one 
especial line, for in all other directions the Dahna is, with 



Chap X] Journey to H of ho of 341 

hardly any exception, impracticable. On either side, indeed, 
of this sand-river, the roads are clearly indicated nor liable to 
mistake ; the wSple difficulty consists in the intermediate space. 
To lessen its rises, Aboo-'Eysa, with a degree of public spirit 
very rare in the East, had two years before laden several camels 
with a prodigious quantity of large stones, which he had thus 
conveyed midway across the sands, and there piled them up in 
what Arabs call la " Rejm," namely, a stone-heap, or rough 
pyramid, between jtwenty-nve and thirty feel; high, forming a most 
desirable landmark in the pathless desert. The changes effected 
in the sand by winds and tempests are seldom enough to over- 
whelm so large a pile ; and should it even be covered up for a 
day or two, a second gale soon blows the light mantle off again 
from the stony nucleus. Many a blessing had been bestowed 
on Aboo-'Eysa for his Rejm, and much aid had been thereby 
afforded to travellers. Better still, Aboo-Dahir-el-Ghannam, the 
same in whose company we now%ere, and whose business often 
obliged him to cross this dreary space, had been seized by an 
honourable emulation, andfhad constructed a second stone- 
heap farther on, known t^f the name of Rejmat-el-Ghannam, 
as the former by that ojFRejmat Abee-'Eysa. But, in spite of 
these rude direction-posts, the way of the Dahna continues 
always a hazardous ofle, and our own caravan was not far from 
adding another page to the long chapter of accidents. 

For, after about three hours of night travelling, or rather 
wading, among the sand-waves, till men and beasts alike were 
ready to sink for weariness, a sharp altercation arose between 
Aboo-'Eysa and El-Ghannam, each proposing a different direc- 
tion of march. We all halted a moment, and raised our eyes 
heavy with drowsiness and fatigue, as if to see which of the 
contending parties was in the right. It will be long before I 
forget the impression of that moment. Above us was the deep 
black sky, spangled with huge stars of a brilliancy denied to all 
but an Arab gaze, while what is elsewhere a ray of the third 
magnitude becomes here of the first amid the pure vacuum of 
a mistless, vapourless air; around us loomed high ridges, shut- 
ting us in before and behind with their white ghost-like outlines; 
below our feet the lifeless sand, and everywhere a silence that 
seemed to belong to some strange and dreamy world where 
man might not venture. Aboo-'Eysa stretched his arm to point 



f 



342 



Journey to H of ho of 



[Chap. X 




out one way, El-Ghannam another, and either direction appeared 
equally devoid of pass or gutlet. After awhile, however, Aboo- 
'Eysa cut the matter short by raising his voice, shouting to all 
to follow him, and, spite of the resistance which Ghannam per- 
sisted in making, kd us all off at a sharp angle on the left, till 
at last we floundered down into a sort of valley where a few 
bushes diversified the sand, and dismounted for a few hours of 
repose; warjaier at any rate than that of the preceding night. 

Next morning we fesumed our course, but now under the 
sole guidance of Abof-'Eysa, to whom our band, confiding in 
his superior conversance with this wild region, had unanimously 
agreed to entrust thejbselves till we should reach the opposite 
bank. How our leafier contrived to direct his steps would be 
hard to tell; the f|culty of keeping one's nose in the right 
direction when neither eyes nor ears can afford any assistance, 
is, I suppose, one of the many latent powers of human nature, 
only to be brought out by circumstance and long exercise. 
When not far from the midmost of the Dahna, we fell in with 
a few Bedouins, belonging to the Aal-Morrah clan, sole tenants 
of this desert; they weifc leading their goats to little spots of 
scattered herbage and shrubs which here and there fix a pre- 
carious existence in tie hollows of the sands. The flocks 
themselves can, by spgfcial privilege of endurance, pass four or 
five days at a time w|fchout watering ; and when at last even 
they must drink, theif" shepherds conduct them to the Oweysit 
or some other brackiSh well on the verge of Toweyk, unknown 
to ordinary mortals. More savage-looking beings than these 

Aal-Morrah Bedouins I never saw; their hair was elf-locks, their 

... 
dress rags, their complexion grime, their look wildness per- 
sonified. A But in speech, that distinctive countersign of the 
human an%nal, they proved themselves not only men, but men 
of eloquence also. The Aal-Morrah are a very widely spread 
tribe ; a small portion of them only acknowledge the Wahhabee 
influence by an occasional tribute and a mangled prayer; the 
greater number pass for sheer infidels, and in general bearing 
much resemble our old friends the Sherarat, as they figure in 
the first chapter of this work. Their duskiness verges almost 
on blackness ; their weapons spears and knives, for the musket 
has made little progress among them. Eloquence alone remains 
to them of all the heritage of Kahtan ; in other respects they 



Chap, xj Journey to H of hoof 343 

are mere savages, but not barbarous ; I found them even good- 
natured, though impudent and predatory, like all their Bedouin 
brethren. 

Theirs is the ^great desert from Nejed to Hadramaut Not 
that they actually cover this immense space, a good fourth of 
the Peninsula; but that they have the free and undisputed range 
of the pjiies which it occasionally offers, where herbs, shrubs, 
and d^arf-palms cluster round some well of scant and briny 
water: These oases are sufficiently numerous to preserve a 
stray Bedouin or two from perishing, though not enough so to 
become landmarks for any regular route across the central 
Dahna, from the main body of which runs out the long and 
broad arm which we were now traversing. 

From our Aal-Morrah friends J^foo-'Eysa now took indica- 
tions for the way we had to J^ffow, and thus procured us five 
minutes of standing stilLJWft without alighting from our camels. 
About an hour after^recame in sight of his Rejm, the work of 
so much labour ajfa cost. Reassured by its eloquent silence 
that we were c^fainly on the right track, we hastened on, very 
weary from J#e intense heat, yet unwilling to halt in this region 
of danger. ^When the afternoon was somewhat advanced, we 
saw coming up from the east, and not far on our left, what 
seemed a troop of black ants; it approached, and we discerned 
in it the main army of Hasa, slowly dragging along with them 
through the sands two heavy guns sent from Kateef for the 
siege of 'Oneyzah. 

After sunset we reached the second cairn, Rejmat-el-Ghan- 
nam. Here the desert-scene began to change ; the sands were 
henceforth miied with gravel, and gave firmer footing to our 
beasts. We alighted for supper; I might entitle it breakfast, 
for we had taken nothing all day. Every one rejoiced at our 
leaving the Dahna in our rear. But the success of Aboo-'Eysa, 
who had piloted the caravan better than their original leader, 
aroused in the breast of El-Ghannam and his partisans the 
feeling which " dos&^j&srit as its shade pursue," and nowhere 
more than in Arabia. Hence an open rupture now took place 
between the rival chiefs, and as the rest of the way was easy 
to find, Ghannam could all the^better afford the quarrel. Some 
travellers sided with the one, solge with the other; high words 
were interchanged, and we seeiriWl on the point of having a 






**m 



344 Journey to H of ho of [Chap, x 

regular " Yowm " or " day," as Arabs term a fight. Whereon 
Barakat and I interposed, by suggesting to Aboo-'Eysa that he 
had ' best push on with us and whoever else might choose to 
follow, and by arriving the first at Hofhoof complete his tri- 
umph over El-Ghannam. Detto, fatto, and off we started with 
two or three in our suite, leaving our mortified competitors to 
their coffee and humiliation. 

The ground, for it now deserved that name, being about equal 
parts of pebble, marl, and sand, sloped down to the east, and 
glistered to the far horizon in barren whiteness, interrupted 
here and there by dark streaks of low and thorny thicket. 
Sheltered by one of these clusters, we snatched a few hours of 
brief rest, followed by another day of most monotonous plain, 
in level and character just like that of the preceding evening. 
A few travellers whcki we met coming up from Djoon in Has a, 
and who took us for robbers and almost died of fear, so fierce 
did we look, made the^ple variety for fourteen hours of road. 
Villages, shade, and welfe^ of course there were none; fortu- 
nately the heat was much "l|iore supportable here than it had 
been amid the sand. 

Another night's bivouac, and then again over the white down- 
sloping plain. At last a change ensued, abruptly chalky hills 
and narrow gorges bounded our way, till at the bottom of a 
hollow we came on a large solitary tree with more thorns than 
leaves, and in hermit loneliness. " Here," said Aboo-'Eysa, 
" Ibraheem Basha caused a well to be sunk for at least sixty feet 
in depth, in hopes of finding water, but to no purpose." The 
dry pit, now half filled up with stones and sand, remained a 
witness of the attempt. Had it succeeded, the difficulty of the 
communications between Nejed and the eastern coast would 
have been much alleviated. 

A little farther on we entered the great valley, known by the 
name of Wadi Farook, which, like all other leading geographical 
features of this region, whether mountain or plain, runs from 
north to south ; its general type resembles the Dahna, of which 
it is in a manner a parallel offshoot. We descended into this 
valley about noon, crossed it not altogether without anxiety, 
and near sunset climbed the opposite bank, and began to thread 
the coast-range of Hasa. These hills attain, after my very 
rough observations, about fourteen hundred feet above the sea- 



Chap, x] Journey to Hofhoof 345 

level, and about four hundred above the desert on the west, 
which would thus be itself about a thousand feet higher than 
the coast. Their sides are often eaten out into caverns, and 
their whole look is fanciful and desolate in the extreme. 

It was now three days and a half since our last supply of 
water, and Aboo-'Eysa was anxious to reach the journey's end 
without delay. Similar reasons had acted no less powerfully on 
El-Ghannam and his companions, who by dixit of forced marches 
here overtook us ; we all made peace, and pushed on together 
over hills that shone like gold in they rich mellow rays of the 
setting sun. As darkness closed around we reached the further- 
most heights. Hence we overJ#6ked the plains of Has a, but 
could distinguish nothing through the deceptive rays of the 
rising moon; we seemedfto gaze into a vast milky ocean. 
After an hour's halt for^gupper, we wandered on, now up, now 
down, over pass and crag, till a long corkscrew descent down 
the precipitous sea^ae of the mountain for a thousand feet or 
near it, placed unfairly upon the low level of IJasa, and within 
the warm damp air of the sea-coast. 

The ground glimmered white to the moon, and gave a firm 
footing to our dromedaries, who by their renewed agility seemed 
to partake in the joy of their riders, and to understand that rest 
was near. We were, in> fact, all so eager to find ourselves at 
home and homestead, that although the town of Hofhoof, our 
destined goal, was yet full fifteen miles to the north-east, we 
pressed on for the capital. And there, in fact, we should have 
all arrived in a body before day-dawn, had not a singular occur- 
rence retarded by far the greater number of our companions. 

Soon after, the crags in our rear had shut out, perhaps for 
years, perhaps for ever, the desert and Central Arabia from our 
view, while before and around us lay the indistinct undulations 
and uncertain breaks of the great Has a plain, when on a sloping 
bank at a short distance in front we discerned certain large 
black patches, in strong contrast with the white glister of the soil 
around, and at the same time our attention was attracted by a 
strange whizzing like that of a flight of hornets, close along the 
ground, while our dromedaries capered and started as though 
struck with sudden insanity. The cause of all this was a vast 
swarm of locusts, here alighted in their northerly wanderings 
from their birthplace in the Dahna; their camp extended far 



346 Journey to H of hoof [Chap, x 

md wide, and we had already disturbed their outposts. These 
insects are wont to settle on the ground after sunset, and there, 
| half stupefied by the night chill, to await the morning rays, 
I which warm them once more into life and movement. This 
time our dromedaries did the work of the sun, and it would be 
hard to say which of the two were the most frightened, they or 
the locusts. It was truly laughable to see so huge a beast lose 
his wits for fear at the flight of a harmless, stingless insect; of 
all timid creatures none equal the " ship of the desert " for 
cowardice. 

But if the beasts were frightened, not so their masters; I 
really thought they would have gone mad for joy. Locusts are 
here an article of food, nay, a dainty, and a good swarm of them 
is begged of Heaven in Arabia no less fervently than it would 
be deprecated in India or in Syria. This difference of sentiment 
is grounded on several reasons ; a main one lies in the diversity 
of the insects themselves. The locust of Inner Arabia is very 
unlike whatever of the same genus I have seen elsewhere. 
Those of the north are small, of a pale green trt3te^, and re- 
semble not a little our own ordinary grasshoppers. They are 
never, to my knowledge, eaten by the Bedouins or villagers of 
Syria, Mesopotamia, and 'Irak, nor do I believe them eatable 
under any circumstances, extreme hunger perhaps alone ex- 
cepted. Like bees, they have a queen, whose size is propor- 
tioned to her majesty; bvrt, like bees in this point also, locust 
queens do not lead the swarms, but keep retired state. The 
locust of Arabia is, on the contrary, a reddish-brown insect, 
twice or three times the size of its northern homonym, re- 
sembling a large prawn in appearance, and as long as % rrmn's 
little finger, which it equals also in thickness. Among these 
locusts I neither saw nor heard of any queen, a deficit which 
tends to class them/with the species "Arbah" of the Bible, as 
described in the jfenultimate chapter of the Proverbs. When 
boiled or fried tfyey are said to be delicious, and boiled and fried 
accordingly they are to an incredible extent. However, I could 
never persuade myself to taste them, whatever invitations the 
inhabitants of the land, smacking their lips over large dishes 
full of entomological " delicatesses^lsQuld make me to join 
them. Barakat ventured on one, and one only, for a trial ; he 



chap, xj Journey to H of hoof 347 

pronounced it oily ancLdnsgusting ; it is caviare to unaccustomed 
palates. 

The swarm now before us was a thorough godsend for our 
Arabs, on no account to be neglected. Thirst, weariness, all 
was forgotten, and down the riders leapt from their starting 
camels ; this one spread out a cloak, that one a saddle-bag, a I 
third his shirt, over the unlucky creatures destined for the 
morrow's meal. Some flew away whirring 7 across our feet, 
others were caught and tied up in cloths and sacks; Cornish 
wreckers at work about a shattered East-Indiaman would be 
beaten by Ghannam and his companions with the locusts. 
However, Barakat and myself felt no special interest in the 
chase, nor had we much desire to turn our dress and accoutre- 
ments into receptacles for living game. Luckily Aboo-'Eysa 
still retained enough of his North Syrian education to be of our 
mind also. Accordingly we left our associates hard at work, 
turned our startled and still unruly dromedaries in the direction 
of Hofhoof, and set off full speed over the plain. 

Thirteen or fourteen miles we rode on together, and passed 
,the little village of 'Eyn-Nejm, or Fountain of the Star, where 
the shadows of its houses darkened the moonshine on the white 
cliffs under Ghoweyr. p&re was not long since a hot and sul- 
phurous spring, in popular belief, a panacea for all ruined con- 
stitutions. An open^eupola had been erected by former genera- 
tions over the source, and bath receptacles constructed around. 
Hither crowds repaired, and often found the health they sought, 
till the place became i.point of resort and meeting for all around, 
and attracte^'the suspicious attention of the Ri'ad government. 
Order was given in consequence, about three years before the 
date of our visit, to destroy the cupola and the baths, and to 
choke up the mouth of the fountain with stones, lest, to quote 
the wor^s of FeysuPs orthodox firman, "the people should learn 
to put their trust in the waters' rather than in God, which would 
be idolatry." The imperial decree was executed, and the ruins 
of the " Kubbah" or dome, with the hot stream that yet escapes 
from between the piles of rubbish, remain to attest the bounty 
of the Creator, the. stupid narrow-mindedness of the Wahhabee, 
and the ill fortune of a land governed by bigots. It is an old 
tale, and not peculiar to Arabia. 






348 Journey to H of hoof [Chap, x 

It was not till near morning that we saw before us in indis- 
tinct row the long black lines of the immense date-groves that 
surround Hofhoof. Then, winding on amid rice-grounds and 
cornfields, we left on our right an isolated fort (to be described 
by daylight), passed some scattered villas with their gardens, 
approached the ruined town walls and entered the southern 
gate, now open and unguarded. Farther on a few streets 
brought us before the door of Aboo-'Eysa's house, our desired 
resting-place. 







( 



?////// .S>/vy// 










FLAN or HOFH.OOF. 



Field 



s 



I. JCoc or fortress 
T Residence of Belal 



5 5.5. QuMrler ol ftr/ty eeyo/t 
£.666 (/uarte ol' tVa at/ltr 

7 Meson* 

8 Abpo Eysas Zulus? 

9 Sou/Aern Gate waj, t4 Me/ed. 

11.11 II II OthB aales 

11 11. 11 12 Moo J. portfy li/ied- wi/J, waits- 

13. frrucal. AjM / oU Shr< 

H Furl o/' Afaltqm 

15. Another isolated, frill and, fort- 



349 



CHAPTER XI / 

From Hofhoof to Kateef 

Hardly the place of such antiquity 

Or note, of these great monarchies we find; 

Only a fading verbal memory ; 

An empty name in writ is left behind. 

Fletcher 

Aboo-Eysds Home — General Character of the Inhabitants of Hasa — Our 
Lodgings at Hofhoof- — Description of the Town — The Kot — The Keysaree- 
yah — The Rifey'eeyah — The Ndathar — Fortifications — The Khoteym — 
Neighbourhood of Hofhoof- — Hot Springs — Earthquakes — Nature of this 
District — Vegetation — Decline of Agriculture, Manufacture, and Com- 
merce — Climate — Nabtee Versification — Literature in Hasa — Dress — 
Ornament — Pleasure Parties of Moghor — Our own Life at Hofhoof- — 
Evenmgs in Society — A Fair at Hofhoof — Visit to Mebarraz — The Castle 
and Town — Lnterior of a House — Visit to Omm-sabad' — Description of 
the Fountain — An Arab Picnic — The Waters of Hasa — Women — 
Arab Currency — The Hasa Coinage — Plans for Visiting 'Oman — De- 
parture from Hofhoof — An Incident — Keldbeeyah — The North pfasa Road 
— Character of the Country — 'Azmiah — Hills of Kateef — The Plain — An 
Aqueduct — Town of Kateef- — The Castle — The Sea — Description of the 
Harbour — Feysuls Navy — Farhat, Governor of Kateef— Palace of Kar- 
moot — Farhafs Khdwah — Neighbourhood of JCateef — Ruins — A Semi- 
Persian Supper — We Embark for Maharrek. 

It was still night. All was silent in the street and house at the 
entrance of which we now stood ; indeed, none but the master 
of a domicile could think of knocking at such an hour, nor was 
Aboo-'Eysa expected at that precise moment. With much 
difficulty he contrived to awake the tenants ; next the shrill 
voice of the lady was heard within in accents of joy and welcome, 
the door at last opened, and Aboo-'Eysa invited us into a dark 
passage, where a gas-light would have been a remarkable 
improvement, and by this ushered us into the K'hawah. Here 



35° L ife at H of hoof [Chap, xi 

we lighted a fire, and after a hasty refreshment all lay down to 
sleep, nor awoke till the following forenoon. 

/Our stay at Hof hoof was very pleasant and interesting, not 
indeed through personal incidents and hairbreadth escapes — of 
which we had our fair portion at Ri'ad and elsewhere — but in 
the information here acquired, and in the novel character of 
everything around us, whether nature, art, or man. Aboo-'Eysa 
was very anxious that we should see as much as possible of the 
country, and procured us all means requisite for so doing, while 
the shelter of his roof, and the precautions which he adopted 
or suggested, obviated whatever dangers and inconveniences 
we had experienced in former stages of the journey. Besides, 
the general disposition of the inhabitants of Has a is very dif- 
ferent from that met with in Nejed and even in Shomer or 
Djowf, and much better adapted to make a stranger feel him- 
self at home. A sea-coast people, looking mainly to foreign 
lands and the ocean for livelihood and commerce, accustomed to 
see among them not unfrequently men of dress, manners, and 
religion differing from their own, many of them themselves tra- 
vellers or voyagers to Basrah, Bagdad, Bahreyn, 'Oman, and 
some ^even farther, they are commonly free from that half- 
wondering, half-suspicious feeling which the sight of a stranger 
occasions in the isolated desert-girded centre; in short, expe- 
rience, that best of masters, has gone far to unteach the lessons 
of ignorance, intolerance, and national aversion. 

In Hasa also, independently of the external and circum- 
stantial causes just alluded to, the character of the inhabitants 
themselves is little predisposed to exclusiveness and asperity. 
Wahhabeeism exists indeed, but only among the few who form 
the dominant and hated class; while its presence serves by 
natural reaction to render the main bulk of the inhabitants yet 
more averse from a system whose evils they know not only by 
theory, but more by frequent and bitter experience. 

On awaking to an excellent breakfast of — O luxury unheard 
of since Gaza — roasted fowl, rice, and pastry, prepared by our 
Abyssinian hostess, Aboo-'Eysa's wife, a good-natured thought- 
less dame, like most of her countrywomen, we began to look 
about us, and found ourselves in a comfortable dwelling, well 
adapted to the quiet tenor of life which we proposed here to 
lead for a few weeks. The K'hawah w T as small and snug, not 




€hap. xi] Life at H of hoof W--/ 35 * 



admitting above twenty guests at a time ; alongside was a 
second and larger apartment, set apart by Aboo-'Eysa for our 
more especial habitation, and opening on the courtyard; two 
spacious rooms communicated with this on either side; the one 
was at our disposal, the other answered the purposes of a nur- 
sery, and was the ordinary abode of the dusky lady, with her 
mulatto son and heir. A kitchen and two secluded chambers, 
into which the rougher sex might not indiscriminately venture, 
completed the ground storey; while above were three empty and 
unfurnished rooms, and a large extent of flat roof, whereon it was 
very pleasant to sit morning and evening. And in the courtyard 
below we might at our leisure contemplate " the patient camels 
ruminate their food," as Southey has it in a well-known poem 
where the vivacity of the author's imagination almost retrieves 
his want of personal experience in many an Eastern scene. 

Hofhoof, whose ample circuit contained during the last 
generation about thirty thousand inhabitants, now dwindled to 
twenty-three or twenty-four thousand, is divided into three quar- 
ters or districts. The general form of the town is that of a large 
oval. The public square, an oblong space of about three hundred 
yards in length by a fourth of the same in width, occupies the 
meeting point of these quarters ; the Kot lies on its north-east, 
the Eifey'eeyah on the north-west and west, and the Na'athar 
on the east and south. In this last quarter was our present 
home; moreover, it stood in the part farthest removed from 
the Kot and its sinister influences, while it was also sufficiently 
distant from the over-turbulent neighbourhood of the Rifey'- 
eeyah, the centre of anti-Wahhabee movements, and the name 
of which alone excited distrust and uneasiness in Nejdean 
minds. 

The Kot itself is a vast citadel, surrounded by a deep trench, 
with walls and towers of unusual height and thickness, earth- 
built with an occasional intermixture of stone, the work of the 
old Carmathian rulers ; it is nearly square, being about one- 
third of a mile in length by one-quarter in breadth. Three 
sides of this fortress are provided each with a central gate; on 
the fourth or northern side a small but strong fortress forms a 
sort of keep ; it is square, and its towers attain more than forty 
feet in elevation, or about sixty, if we reckon from the bottom 
of the outer ditch. Within dwells the Nejdean governor, for- 



352 Life at H of hoof [Chap, xi 

merly Mohammed-es-Sedeyree, but at the present day a negro 
of FeysuFs, Belal by name, a good slave and a bad ruler, if 
the disaffection of tne town say true. Here too is the model 
orthodox Mesjid, where all is done after the most correct 
Wahhabee fashion ; here abide the Metow'waa's and Zelators 
sent hither from Ri'ad, and other Nej deans of 'Aared, Woshem, 
and Yemamah. Within the Kot dwells also a population in 
number between two and three thousand souls ; for the whole 
space, even up to the inner lirie of the walls, is thickly inha- 
bited; it is divided by rectangular streets running from gate to 
gate, and from side to side. 

The towers, fifteen or sixteen on each side of the Kot, are 
mostly round, and provided with winding stairs, loopholes, and 
machicolations below the battlements; the intervening walls 
have similar means of defence. The trench without is for the 
greatest part dry, but can be filled with water from the garden 
wells beyond when occasion requires ; the portals are strong 
and well-guarded. 

On the opposite side of the square, and consequently belong- 
ing to the Rifey'eeyah, is the vaulted market-place or "Keysa- 
reeyah," a name by which constructions of this nature must 
henceforth be called up to Mascat itself, though how this Latin- 
ism found its way across the Peninsula to lands which seem to 
have had so little commerce with the Roman or Byzantine em- 
pires, I cannot readily conjecture. This Keysareeyah is in form 
a long barrel-vaulted arcade, with a portal at either end; the 
folding doors that should protect the entrances have here in 
Hofhoof been taken away, elsewhere they are always to be 
found. The sides are composed of shops, set apart in general 
for wares of .cost, or at least what is here esteemed costly; thus 
weapons, cloth embroidery, gold and silver ornament, and ana- 
logous articles, are the ordinary stock-in-hand in the Keysa- 
reeyah. Around it cluster several alleys, roofed with palm-leaves 
against the heat, and tolerably symmetrical ; in the shops we 
may see the merchandise of Bahreyn, 'Oman, Persia, and India 
exposed for sale, mixed with the manufactured produce of the 
country; workshops, smithies, carpenters' and shoemakers' stalls, 
and the like, are here also. In the open square itself stand 
countless booths for the sale of dates, vegetables, wood, salted 
locusts, and small ware of many kinds. Tobacco, however, once 



chap, xi] L ife at H of hoof 353 

a common article of purchase, is now proscribed by Wannabee 
disciplinarians, and no longer offends the eye; its store and 
traffic are in private, where, after the over-true principle that 
" stolen waters are sweet," the supplies are copious and the 
purchasers active. Public auctions are frequently held in the 
square ; here too barbers ply their trade, and smiths and shoe- 
makers abound, though these latter callings number also many 
followers in other parts of the town. 

The Rifey'eeyah, or noble quarter, covers, a considerable ex- 
tent, and is chiefly composed of tolerable, in some places of 
even handsome dwellings. The comparative elegance of domes- 
tic architecture in Hof hoof is due to the use of the arch, which 
after the long interval from Ma'an to Hasa now at last reap- 
pears, znd gives to the constructions of this province a lightness 
and a variety unknown in the monotonous and heavy piles of 
Nejed and Shomer. Another improvement is that the walls, 
whether of earth or stone, or of both mixed as is often the case, 
are here very generally coated with fine white plaster, much re- 
sembling the "chunam" of Southern India; ornament too is 
aimed at about the doorways and the ogee-headed windows, 
and is sometimes attained. The streets of the Rifey'eeyah 
are, for a hot country, wide and very clean ; those of Damas- 
cus and even of Beyrouth are not one quarter so well kept. 
This quarter is very healthy; it stands on a slightly rising 
ground, implied by its name "Rifey'eeyah," or "elevation," and 
is exposed to the sea-breeze, here distinctly perceptible at times. 

The Na'athar is the largest quarter; it forms indeed a good 
half of the town, and completes its oval. In it every descrip- 
tion of dwelling is to be seen — for rich and poor, for high and 
low, palace or hovel. Here too, but near the Kot, has the pious 
policy of Feysul constructed the great mosque, where Moresco 
arches, light porticoes, smooth plaster, and a mat-spread floor, 
presented an appearance much surpassing in decency the naked 
cathedral, so to speak, of Ri'ad. In this quarter, however, the 
Wahhabee sect, as such, numbers but few partisans. Many mer- 
chants, traders, and men of business here reside ; here strangers 
from Persia, 'Oman, Bahreyn, from Hareek also, and Katar, take 
up their dwelling; here weavers and artisans live and carry on 
their business. 

The fortifications of the town were once strong and high, but 

A A 



/ 



I 



354 Life at H of hoof [Chap, xi 

are now little better than heaps of ruins, of broken towers and 
winding stairs that lead to nothing. Without the walls lie the 
gardens and plantations, stretching away north and east as far 
as the eye can reach ; on the south and west they form a nar- 
rower ring. At no great distance from the southern gate stands 
the isolated fortress which we had passed on the night of our 
arrival ; it is a small but well-constructed building, and placed 
so as effectually to command and check all entrance from the 
south and west; its name, the " Khoteym," or " Bridle-bit," im- 
plies its object and its character. This fort is recent; the chief 
of Hofhoof erected it during the last century to serve as a 
" bridle " to the impetuous onset of the Wahhabees, when the 
hordes of Nejed poured down through the passes of Ghoweyr, 
and approached the capital of the province in this direction. It 
now stands dismantled, a page from past politics, like the Dra- 
chenfels or Conway Castle. 

Another smaller fort, a watch-tower in fact, rises close by. 
Like the Khoteym it is built of un&^ejjjpncks, hardened by 
process of time into the semblance of stone. "For seventy or 
eighty years these unroofed walls nave braved winter r^fels and 
spring blasts without losing an inch of their height oryefpening a 
fissure in their sides. 

Hence due south the view extends over a waste and desert 
space, interposed between the province of Has a and that of 
Katar, a natural boundary dispensing with artificial limits be- 
tween the rival domains of Nejed and 'Oman. Turning west- 
ward, we have before us a multitude of water-courses, no longer 
the wells of Nejed, but living running streams amid deep palm- 
groves, and a vegetation of that semi-Indian type peculiar to 
this part of Arabia. Many little villages stud the plain, till at 
a north-westerly distance of five or six miles the cavernous 
cliffs of Djebel-el-Moghazee, or " Mountain of military expe- 
ditions," close in the prospect. Norland east of Hofhoof is 
one green mass of waving foliage r £ave where occasionally the 
overflowing water-channels present that phenomenon specially 
dear in reminiscences to an east-country Englishman, namely, a 
real genuine marsh, with reetis, rushes, and long T legged water- 
fowl. Heaven bless them all! I cannot say how glad I was 
to see them after so long a separation ; while around the rim of 
the swamps and pools rise stately palm-trees, Haden with the 



chap, xi] L ife at H of hoof 355 

choicest dates of Arabia, or rather of the entire world. A 
solitary conical hillock, the freak of nature, rises alone on the 
north-east from the level of this well-watered plain ; its summit 
bears the vestiges of Carmathian fortification. These details 
have, I trust, given my readers a tolerable idea of the town of 
Hofhoof and its immediate neighbourhood. Its general aspect 
is that of a white and yellow onyx, chased in an emerald rim ; 
the name of " Hofhoof," like the Winchester of our own island, 
implies glitter and beauty. 

But perhaps my reader, after accompanying me thus far, may 
feel thirsty, for the heat, even in December, is almost oppressive, 
and the sky cloudless as though it were June or July. So let 
us turn aside into that grassy plantation, where half-a-dozen 
buffaloes are cooling their ugly hides in a pool, and drink a 
little from the source that supplies it. When behold ! the water 
is warm, almost "hot. Do not be surprised, all the fountain 
sources and wells of Hasa are so, more or less; in some one 
can hardly bear to plunge one's hand ; others are less above the 
average temperature, while a decidedly sulphurous taste is now 
| and then perceptible. In fact, from the extreme north of this 
^province down to its southernmost frontier, this same sign of 
'subterranean fire is everywhere to be found. The rocks, too, 
are here very frequently of tufa and basalt, another mark of 
igneous agency. Lastly, the inhabitants informed me that 
slight shocks of earthquake — a phenomenon wholly unknown, 
so far as I could gather, to the historical records or the living 
tradition of Upper Nejed — are here nowise uncommon. One 
of unusual severity, and to which the rents and clefts in the 
high walls and the upper storeys of several houses in the town 
yet bore witness, was said to have taken place about thirty 
years before. Perhaps it was coincident with the well-known 
catastrophe which in 1836 buried the inhabitants of Safed under 
the ruins of their town, rolled the huge stones of £.ela'at-Djish 
(Djiscala) down the valley, and shook the strong castle-walls of 
Aleppo. In fact Hasa, in its littoral position alongside of the 
Persian Gulf, belongs to that great valley which, partly sunk 
beneath the waters of the Gulf itself, partly rising to form the 
bed of the Tigris and the Euphrates, reaches from the shores of 
Beloochistan and 'Oman up to Kara Dagh and the mountains of 
Armenia, and at the upper exti emity of which earthquakes are 

a a 2 



3 5 6 L ife at H of ho of [Chap, xi 

only too common. The continuity of this long valley is further 
attested by the remarkable uniformity of its climate ; it forms 
a huge hot-air funnel, the base of which is on the tropics, while 
its extremity reaches 37 degrees of northern latitude. Hence it 
comes that the Semoom, unknown in the far more southerly 
regions of Syria and Palestine (my readers are, I trust, too well 
informed to fall into the popular error of confounding the spe- 
cific and gaseous Semoom with the Shilook or Sirocco of Syria, 
Malta, and even Italy), pays occasional visits to Mosoul and 
Djezeera£ J Omar, while the thermometer at Bagdad attains in 
summer an elevation capable of staggering the belief of even 
an old Indian, at least from the Bombay side. 

The products of Hasa are many and various ; the monotony 
of Arab vegetation, its eternal palm and ithel, ithel and palm, 
are here varied by new foliage, and growths unknown to Nejed 
and Shomer. True, the date-palm still predominates, nay, here 
^attains its greatest perfection. But the Nabak, with its rounded 
leaves and little crab-apple fruit, a mere bush in Central Arabia, 
becomes in Hasa a stately tree ; the papay too, so well known 
in the more easterly Peninsula, appears, though seldom, and 
stunted in growth, along with some other trees common on the 
coast from Cutch to Bombay. Indigo is here cultivated, though 
not sufficiently for the demands of commerce ; cotton is much 
more widely grown than in Yemamah ; rice-fields abound, and 
the sugar-cane is often planted, though not, I believe, for the 
extraction of the sugar; the peasants of Hasa sell the reed by 
retail bundles in the market-place, and the purchasers take it 
home to gnaw at leisure in^meir houses. Corn, maize, millet, 
vetches of every kind, radishes, onions, garlic, beans, in short, 
almost all legumina and cerealia, barley excepted (at least I 
neither saw nor heard of^any), cover the plain, and under a 
better administration might be multiplied tenfold. But a heavy 
land-tax and arbitrary .^contributions have deeply discouraged 
the agriculturist no less than the merchant. For centuries 
Hasa had carried |tn a flourishing commerce with 'Oman, 
Persia, and India can the right, and with Basrah and Bagdad 
on the left, nay even with Damascus itself, in spite of political 
hostility and local distance. For the cloaks of Hasa manu- 
facture, and the embroidery which adorns them, are alike un- 
rivalled; such delicacy of work, such elegance of pattern, are 



Chap, xij L ife at Hofhoof 357 

unknown save in Cachemire alone. The wool employed is of 
exquisite fineness, and, when skilfully interwoven with silk, 
forms a tissue alike strong/fo wear and beautiful to the eye; 
while its borderings of epd and silver thread, tastefully inter- 
mixed with the gayest colours, may be envied, but never 
equalled, by Syria and Persia. In the workmanship of the 
precious metals, in the adornment of a sword-hilt or a powder- 
flask, of a dagger or a Nargheelah, the artisans of Hasa, though 
inferior in this respect to those of 'Oman^ have nothing to fear 
from the competition of Damascus or Bagdad. In implements 
of copper and brass, also, the/ well know how to combine ele- 
gance with utility, and the coffee-pots of Hasa certainly outvie 
any to be met with north of Basrah. All these and similar 
objects were once regular articles of an advantageous exporta- 
tion, and when added to the never-failing trade in those -Khalas 
dates, peculiar to this district, and which make all mouths water 
from Bombay to Mosoul, besides a supplementary bale of sugar- 
cane or the like, formed an excellent outport trade. Cloth of 
more ordinary quality, cutlery, ironwork, swords, spears, crockery, 
silk, gold thread, silver thread, and a hundred analogous articles, 
came in return. Hence the great wealth of the Hasa merchants, 
and consequently of the local government, and hence the monu- 
ments whose relics yet attest that wealth. Now all is fallen 
away; the Nejdean eats out the marrow and fat of the land; 
while by his senseless war against whatever it pleases his fana- 
ticism to proscribe, under the name of luxury — against tobacco 
and silk, ornament and dress — he cuts off an important branch 
of useful commerce, while he loses no opportunity of snubbing 
and discouraging the unorthodox trader. To this praiseworthy 
end, whenever an expedition is ordered, or a levy made, the 
malignant policy of Mohanna, already mentioned in our chapter 
on Kaseem, finds a yet wider application in Hasa, where the 
first who receives the bidding to sling the musket and shoulder 
the spear is the wealthy merchant, the busy shopkeeper, and 
the hard-working artisan ; and all to the detriment prepense of 
their affairs in hand. Such had been pre-eminently the system 
adopted by Feysul in the actual war; and when we reached 
Hofhoof we found full half of its better inhabitants thus forcibly 
absent on a war whose only result could be to rivet the hated 
Wahhabee yoke still more firmly on their own necks. 



358 Life at H of hoof [Chap, xi 

The climate of Hasa, as I have already implied, is very- 
different from thft of the uplands, and not equally favourable 
to health and physical activity. Hence a doctor, like myself, if 
my readers will allow me the title, has here more work and 
better fees ; this latter circumstance is also owing to the greater 
amount of ready money in circulation, and the higher value set 
on medical science by men whose intellects are much more 
cultivated than those of their Nejdean neighbours. In appear- 
ance the inhabitants of Hasa are generally good-sized and well- 
proportioned, but somewhat sallow in the face, and of a less 
muscular developement than is usual inland; their features, 
though regular, are less marked than those of the Nej deans, 
and do not exhibit the same half- Jewish type ; on the contrary, 
there is something in them that reminds a beholder of the 
Rajpoot Or the Guzeratee. They are passionately fond of 
literature and poetry, whether it be according to the known 
Arabic rules and metre, or whether it follow the Nabtee, that 
is, the Nabathaean versification. 

This latter form of composition, occasionally met with even 
in Nejed, but rare, becomes here common, more so indeed than 
the Arabic, from which it differs in scansion, metre, and rhyme. 
In Nabtee verses scansion goes by accent, not by quantity ; 
the metre is variable, even in the same piece ; and the rhyme, 
instead of being^pntinuous, is alternate. In a word, this class 
of poetry presents in form a strong resemblance to the ordinary 
English ballad, and, like it, is the popular style of the country. 
The standard of poetry in Hasa seemed to me decidedly higher 
than in Nejed. On the other hand, the language of common 
conversation is inferior in copiousness, purity, and flexibility to 
that of the inner uplands. However, the inferiority of the 
IJasa tongue is compensated by superiority of Hasa intellect ; 
and in what may be called rational conversation and in con- 
secutive reasoning the men of Hofhoof surpass by far the 
inhabitants of Ri'ad and Ha'yel. Foreign intercourse, while 
debasing their grammar, has refined their wits; perhaps, too, 
their acuteness is intrinsic and hereditary, though favoured and 
fostered by local and other circumstances. 

The dress here worn presented an agreeable variety to our 
eyes, wearied by the unparalleled monotony of costume, male 
or female, from Djowf to Yemamah. In Hofhoof and the 



Chap, xi] L ife at Hofhoof 359 

villages around, the wide white Arab shirt or smock is not 
unfrequently replaced by the closer-fitting, saffron-dyed, silk- 
embroidered vest of 'Oman, a garment which recalls to mind 
the Anghee or Anghurka common in Western India; instead of 
the eternal Kafee'yah, a turban, now large and white, now 
ccloured and of narrower folds, adorns many a head ; the light 
red cloak, peculiar, I believe, to the eastern coast, diversifies 
the blackness of the Arab mantle, while the shining red leather 
and elegant shape of Bahreyn or 'Omltri sandals protect the 
feet better and with more grace than the coarse brown-yellow 
productions of the Nejdean shoemaker. Lastly a crooked 
dagger, silver-hilted and mounted, may here be occasionally 
seen at the waist; it becomes universal when we enter the 
limits of 'Oman. 

Before the subjection of Hasa to the Wahhabee, ornament 
and display were the mode in the province, and even now silk 
and embroidery appear far more frequently than is consistent 
with complete orthodoxy. At the period of the great Ri'ad 
reform in 1856, described in a previous chapter of this work, 
certain zealous preachers visited Hofhoof, and, deeming it 
highly probable that the iniquities of the inhabitants had borne 
a share in the late visitation of the cholera, preached copiously 
and emphatically against gay dresses and worldly vanity. But 
finding the ramparts of sin proof against all the batteries of 
pulpit eloquence, the hands of the missionaries achieved here 
as elsewhere what their tongues could not; and while the 
depraved wretches of Hasa yet hesitated to tear and cast aside 
their unrighteous gewgaws, orthodox Nej deans lent them their 
friendly aid, till, as eyewitnesses assured me, torn silk and 
unravelled embroidery literally bestrewed the streets. A fierce 
campaign was of course simultaneously waged against tobacco, 
which henceforth retired into private life. 

Another evil practice, common among the upper classes, was 
at this time somewhat subdued, though not entirely got under. 
The merchants and traders of Hofhoof and Mebarraz, had from 
time immemorial been in the custom of organizing pleasure- 
parties especially during the days of vacation from ordinary 
business. These intervals of social relaxation lasted often a 
week or two at a time, and were generally allotted to the 
autumn season. North-east of Hasa rises a long isolated ridge, 



360 Life at H of hoof [Chap, xi 

basalt and sandstone, about four hundred feet in height; its 
cliffs are pierced in every direction by large natural caverns, 
and their name, " Moghor," or " caves," has become synonym- 
ous with the mountain itself. Within these caves the air is 
cool, even during the hottest months of the year; and fresh 
water flows in a f>erennial supply at the mountain foot. Hither 
accordingly the merchants and business-men of Has a would 
repair when wearied of their accounts and ledger-books, and 
pass together a few days in the caverns of Moghor, amid the 
ease @t familiar conversation, well-furnished tables, music, 
dancing, and whatever like diversions even thinking men often 
allow themselves when tired with hard and sedentary work. 
Now the Nej deans regarded the pleasure-parties of Djebel 
Moghor with hardly less horror than what a fiddle heard in the 
public streets on a Sunday would excite in Glasgow. Feysul 
issued his orders to put down the abomination with a high hand ; 
some of the culprits were arrested, others fined ; and what yet 
remains of these diversions, for they continue even now, is 
managed by stealth, or at least by only a small number, and 
under due precautions. Our own stay at Hofhoof will furnish 
an example. 

I have already said that our great endeavour in Has a was to 
observe unobserved, and thus to render our time as barren as 
might be in incidents and catastrophes. Not that we went into 
the opposite extreme of leading an absolutely retired and there- 
fore uneventful life. Aboo-'Eysa took care from the first to 
bring us into contact with the best and the most cultivated 
families of the town, nor had my medical profession anywhere 
a wider range for its exercise, or better success than in Hofhoof. 
Friendly invitations, now to dinner, now to supper, were of 
daily occurrence; and we sat at tables where fish, no longer 
mere salted shrimps, announced our vicinity to the coast; ver- 
micelli too, and other kinds of pastry, denoted the influence of 
Persian art on the kitchen. Smoking within-doors was general ; 
but the Nargheelah often replaced, and that advantageously, 
the short Arab pipe ; perfumes are no less here in use than in 
Nejed. I need hardly say that domestic furniture is here 
much more varied and refined than what adorns the dwellings 
of Sedeyr and 'Aared ; and the stools, low dinner-tables, cup- 
boards, shelves, and bedsteads, are very like the fittings-up of a 



Chap, xi] L ife at H of hoof 361 

respectable Hindoo house at Baroda or Cambay. Wood-carving 
is also common; it finds its usual place on door-posts and 
window-frames ; lastly, decorative figures painted on the walls, 
though not absolutely equal to the frescoes of Giotto or Ghir- 
landajo, yet suffice to give/the rooms a more cheerful and, if I 
may be allowed the expression, a more Christian look than the 
unvarying brown and white daub of the apartments in 'Aared 
and Kaseem. cJ 

What however gives to the houses of Hasa their most decided 
superiority over those of Central Arabia, is the employment of 
the arch, without which indeed there may be building, but hardly 
construction. The Hasa arch, whether large or small, con- 
tracted to a window or spanning the entire abode, is, I believe, 
never the segment of one circle, but of two; it is half-way 
between the form peculiar to Tudor Gothic, and the " lancet " 
of the Plantagenets. Neither did I witness here the horse- 
shoe curve characteristic of what is called Moresco architecture ; 
it is a simple, broad, but pointed arch, within which an equi- 
lateral, sometimes an obtuse, but never an acute triangle, could 
be inscribed. The arch brings other improvements with it ; the 
entire house becomes here much more regular, its apartments 
wider, its arrangement more symmetrical, light and air circulate 
with greater abundance and facility; while the roof, instead 
of remaining a mere mass of heavy woodwork, supported mid- 
way on clumsy pillars, assumes a something of lightness and 
spring, very refreshing to the eye of a traveller just arrived from 
Ri'ad. 

We had passed about a week in the town when Aboo-'Eysa 
entered the side-room where Barakat and I were enjoying a 
moment of quiet, and copying out " Nabtee " poetry, and shut 
the door behind him. He then announced to us, with a face 
and tone of serious anxiety, that two of the principal Nejdean 
agents belonging to the Kot had just come into the K'hawah, 
under pretext of medical consultation, but in reality, said he, to 
identify the strangers. We put on our cloaks — a preliminary 
measure of decorum equivalent to face and hand-washing in 
Europe — and presented ourselves before our inquisitors with an 
air of conscious innocence and scientific solemnity. Conversa- 
tion ensued; and we talked so learnedly about bilious and san- 
guine complexions, cephalic veins, and Indian drugs, with such 



362 Life at H of hoof [Chap, xi 

apposite citations from the Coran, and such loyal phrases for 
Feysul, that Aboo-'Eysa was beside himself for joy; and the 
spies, after receiving some prescriptions of the bread-pill and 
aromatic-water formula, left the house no wiser than before. 
Our friends too, and they were now many, well guessing what 
we might really be, partly from our own appearance, and partly 
from the known character of our host (according to old Homer's 
true saying, Heaven always leads like to like), did each and all 
their best to throw sand into Wahhabee eyes, and everything 
went on sociably and smoothly. A blessing on the medical 
profession! none other gives such excellent opportunities for 
securing everywhere confidence and friendship. 

A custom unknown in Shomer and in Nejed, but very common 
in other parts of the East, fixes certain days of the week for 
holding public fairs in such and such localities, whither the 
inhabitants, and more particularly the villagers, of all the 
neighbourhood round repair, to sell or to buy, while auctions, 
games, recitations, races, and similar inventions of man's busy 
levity, keep up the animation. 

This usage has prevailed from time immemorial in the pro- 
vince of Hasa. The weekly fair of Hofhoof is held on Thursday, 
that of the great village of Mebarraz to the north on Monday, 
and so on. Aboo-'Eysa, who was very desirous to impress us 
with a great idea of his adopted country, and to that end sought 
occasions to show us the most and the best of it, took care to 
let us know the whereabouts of the fair. We went thither, and 
passed several hours of much amusement among the booths 
erected on these occasions, chatting with townsmen and peasants 
amid a scene the animation of which might almost rival that of 
Epsom on the Derby-day, or Frankfort during a " Messwoche." 
The place of meeting was on the open ground beyond the 
northern gate, close under the outer walls of the Kot. The 
vendors were mostly, if not entirely, villagers, and had brought 
with them wares recommendable by their cheapness rather than 
their elegance : heavy sandals, coarsely-woven cloaks, old mus- 
kets and daggers, second-hand brass utensils, besides camels, 
dromedaries, asses, and a few horses. Others, wandering ped- 
lars by profession, and never absent in crowds like these, 
exposed in temporary booths glass bracelets, arm-rings, ankle- 
rings, copper seals, and beads, with an occasional European 



Chap, xi] Life at H of hoof 363 

drinking-glass, imported through Koweyt or Basrah, and mirrors 
whose distorted reflection might have saved any fair woman the 
trouble of making mouths in them. The booths themselves 
were arranged almost symmetrically, and formed streets and 
squares ; in these latter were great heaps of vegetables and 
dates piled up before male and female sellers, bags of meal and 
flour, heaps of charcoal, faggots of firewood, with bundles of 
sugar-cane for the sweet teeth of Hofhoof. Around, asses were 
tethered, foolish-looking camelf stood nedk in air, and half- 
a-dozen youngsters of the tQwn made an immense dust by 
racing horses under pretente of trying them for purchase. 
Jokes and laughter were heard everywhere, and Arab gravity 
half forgot itself in this promiscuous out-of-doors assembly. 

When Monday came we visited Mebarraz, performing the 
journey thither on donkeys equipped with side-saddles — a cir- 
cumstance for which I must apologise to my fair readers ; but 
;ide-saddles are the fashion of Has a for all donkey-riders, men 
>r women indifferently. Thus mounted we cantered off to the 
lllage, if indeed a population of nigh twenty thousand souls 
might not claim for Mebarraz the name of town. But it is 
unwalled, and the fort belonging to it stands on an isolated 
eminence at a little distance by the west. Near this fort the 
fair was held ; its resemblance to that just described at Hof- 
hoof renders description unnecessary. The town is of very 
irregular appearance ; it contains many handsome houses, inter- 
mixed with wretched hovels. One of our party, 'Obeyd by 
name, owned a kinsman among the townsfolk, and availed 
himself of the circumstance to compass a dinner invitation, at 
which I saw honey for the first time since many months. The 
dwelling of our host was absolutely like a middle-class house 
at Horns or Hamah, with small matted rooms, low windows, a 
little courtyard, a well, and with that peculiar air of seclusion 
and privacy, even in the midst of a street, which may have 
struck my readers if they have ever entered the abode of a 
friend (a native of course) in Syria, at Mosoul, or at Bagdad. 
Hasa in fact already approximates to the mixed districts, 
though the Arab element is yet predominant. 

Almost the whole space between Hofhoof and Mebarraz, a 
distance of about three miles, is filled up with gardens, planta- 
tions, and rushing streams of tepid water. Here and for many 






3 64 L ife. at Ho f ho of [Chap, xi 

leagues around grow the dates entitled " Khalas," — a word of 
which the literal and not inappropriate English translation is 
" quintessence," — a species peculiar to Hasa, and the facile 
princeps of its kind. The fruit itself is rather smaller than the 
Kaseem fate, of a rich amber colour, verging on ruddiness, and 
semitraniparent. It would be absurd to attempt by description 
to give any idea of a taste; but I beg my Indian readers at 
least to believe that a " Massigaum " mango is not more supe- 
rior to a " Junglee," than is the Khalas fruit to that current in 
Syrian or Egyptian marts. In a word, it is the perfection of the 
date. The tree that bears it may by a moderately practised 
eye be recognised by its stem, slenderer than that of the ordi- 
nary palm, its less tufted foliage, and its smoother bark. Another 
species, also limited to this province, is the Rekab ; it would 
hold the first rank anywhere else. During my stay in Arabia 
I counted a dozen kinds of date, each perfectly distinct from 
the other; and I doubt not that a longer acquaintance might 
have enabled me to reckon a dozen more. As to the Khalas 
in particular, its cultivation is an important item among the 
rural occupations of Hasa ; its harvest an abundant source of 
wealth ; and its exportation, which reaches from Mosoul on the 
north-west to Bombay on the south-east, nay, I believe, to the 
African coast of Zanjibar, forms a large branch of the local 
commerce. 

On another day Aboo-'Eysa proposed a trip to Omm-Sabaa', 
literally, "the Mother of Seven." My readers will naturally 
suppose a call on some respectable matron with a large family; 
she is, however, in reality a large hot spring, gushing up from 
the depths of a natural basin, out of which seven streams, the 
daughters of this fruitful parent, flow in different directions and 
fertilize the land far and wide. The spot itself is about eight 
miles distant from Hofhoof, due north. When the moment 
came we assembled, a band of twelve in all ; our companions 
were friends of some standing, and well inclined to be merry. 
The muster-roll ran as follows : Barakat and myself, five gentle- 
men (they deserved the name) of Hofhoof, two mulattoes or 
half-castes, a negro, and a couple of lads. Aboo-'Eysa remained 
to keep house at home ; his wife's care had provided us with 
boiled chickens, pastry, molasses, coffee, and other good things. 
We mounted our donkeys and cantered off, but took care not 



Chap, xi] Life at H of hoof 365 

to pass through the town for fear of encountering some Nejdean 
observer. Instead of keeping the streets we made a circuit 
outside the city walls, amid tanks and fields, often at imminent 
risk of falling off the narrow causeway on the back of some 
buffalo weltering in the mud beneath, racing our beasts, and 
ascertaining by actual experience that Arabs on a pleasure 
party can rival all the freaks of Western schoolboys on an extra 
half-holiday. We left Mebarraz on one side, and then went 
three or four miles at full speed over a wi^le- plain, where palm- 
trees bordered the right, and the Hasa mountain-range stretched 
arid and fantastic on our left, while all along were ranged from 
distance to distance watch-towers and isolated forts, now aban- 
doned to decay. At last the rush of waters and a broad grass- 
banked stream conducted us, as we followed its course, up to 
Omm-Sabaa'. 

This fountain rises in a circular hollow, about fifty feet in 
diameter, and very deep, from whose centre well up waters so 
hot that no bather dares venture on a plunge without first 
inuring his feet and arms to/the temperature by cautious de- 
grees. The basin is brim-f^tl from rim to rim, and from seven 
apertures in the stony margin run out the seven streams whence 
the fountain takes its name, broad and deep enough to turn as 
many water-mills, were such placed on their course. Some of 
the channels are natural, but the total number of seven has 
evidently been completed by art; whether with any planetary 
reference I do not venture to decide; but an analogous ar- 
rangement which we shall afterwards meet with in the cisterns 
of the Persian coast, and which is undoubtedly also of analo- 
gous origin, would somewhat incline me to think no less of 
Omm-Sabaa'. The stonework that surrounds the pool is evi- 
dently ancient, but there is no inscription or record of date, an 
omission of which I have already remarked the universality in 
Central and Eastern Arabia. All around palm-trees and Nabak 
shade the grassy banks, and deep masses of vegetation shut out 
the distant view. The waters of Omm-Sabaa' flow the same, 
winter and summer. Fish, frogs, and other aquatic creatures 
cannot live within the heafed basin, or even in the streams 
near their immediate source, but they abound a little farther 
down the channels. 

The sun now sat high and bright in his meridian tower; the 



366 Life at H of ho of cchap. xi 

breeze was delightful; we examined the fountain-head in all its 
bearings, then bathed, swam, wrestled, drank coffee, chatted, 
dined, smoked, slept, and bathed again. All went merry as a 
marriage-bell till we discovered that, by one of the omissions 
inseparable from a pic-nic, no coffee-cups had been brought, a 
circumstance which had remained unnoticed till the coffee itself 
was ready, and nothing remained for us but to drink it out of 
the sooty coffee-pot wherein it had been prepared. Luckily 
one of the party, cleverer than the rest, rode over at a venture 
to a neighbouring village, whence he soon returned with a 
donkey-load of cups. Trivial circumstances these : I recount 
them merely by way of counterpoise to the many stilted and 
padded descriptions of Eastern life, and of Arab in particular. 
Meanwhile the 'Asr came on ; by common consent prayers were 
supposed to have been said, and we remounted our side-saddles 
and galloped homewards; some of our companions got thrown 
on the way, others stopped to pick them up ; at last we all ar- 
rived safe at Hofhoof, rather late and tired, but in high spirits, 
and well contented with our excursion. 

I have described with tolerable minuteness two of the IJasa 
hot fountains; there are three hundred such, according to 
Aboo-'Eysa's version, in the province. I would not warrant the 
numerical precision of this statement ; but I can vouch for the 
great frequency of these sources, having met with more than a 
dozen within a very limited space ; one in particular, at about 
three miles' ride eastward of Hofhoof, proved even more abun- 
dant in its supply than Omm-Sabaa' herself, though of a more 
supportable temperature. 

Before we leave Hasa I must add a few remarks to complete 
the sketch given of the province and of its inhabitants; want of 
a suitable opportunity for inserting them before, has thrown 
them together at this point of my narrative. 

My fair readers will be pleased to learn that the veil and 
other restraints inflicted on the gentle sex by Islamitic rigorism, 
not to say worse, are much less universal and more easily dis- 
pensed with in Hasa ; while in addition the ladies of the land 
enjoy a remarkable share of those natural gifts which no insti- 
tutions, and even no cosmetics, can confer ; namely, beauty of 
face and elegance of form. Might I venture on the delicate 
and somewhat invidious task of constructing a " beauty-scale " 



chap, xij Life at Hofhaof 367 

for Arabia, and for Arabia alone, the Bedouin women would on 
this kalometer be represented by zero, or at most i°; a degree 
higher would represent the female sex of Nejed; above them 
rank the women of Shomer, who are in their turn surmounted 
by those of Djowf. The fifth or sixth degree symbolizes the 
fair ones of Hasa; the seventh those of Katar ; and lastly, by a 
sudden rise of ten degrees at least, the seventeenth or eighteenth 
would denote the pre-eminent beauties of 'Oman. Arab poets 
occasionally languish after the charmers oOlejaz; I never saw 
any one to charm me, but then I only skirted the province. All 
bear witness to the absence of female loveliness in Yemen; and 
I should much doubt whether the mulatto races and dusky 
complexions of Hadramaut have much to vaunt of. But in 
Hasa a decided improvement on this important point is agree- 
ably evident to the traveller arriving from Nejed, and he will 
be yet further delighted on finding his Calypsos much more 
conversible, and having much more too in their conversation 
than those he left behind him in Sedeyr and 'Aared. 

In a district hardly less agricultural than commercial, I 
might be expected to say something about ploughs and harrows, 
spades and flails. But the great Niebuhr in his account of ArabiaA 
has so faithfully and so minutely described the instruments cus- \ 
tomary in Arab tillage, and their use, that nothing is left for me^J 
to add. Nor need I especially sketch the peasant, much tjae 
same all the world over; nor the peasant-houses, generally mere 
earth hovels or palm-leaf sheds ; the latter perhaps the more 
numerous of the two in Hasa. But I should not pass over in 
silence the increasing number 9? kine, all hunchbacked, Brah- 
minee-bull fashion; they are pten put to the plough, though 
not exclusively, being at times replaced by asses ; by horses, I 
need hardly say, never. Regarding the horse, I have only to 
notice that the breed here resembles that of Shomer, namely, 
a half-caste Nejdean. Dromedaries are many and cheap; they 
yield the palm of excellence to those of 'Oman alone. 

In Ilasa only, throughout the whole course of my long 
journey, did I meet with the genuine produce of an Arab mint. 
In Djowf and Shomer the currency is Turkish or European, 
identical in short with that of Syria, Egypt, and 'Irak, from one 
or other of which three sources whatever coin circulates in the 
Djowf is derived. In Nejed Proper, where Turkish money is 



368 Life at H of hoof [Chap, xi 

no longer passable, nor have the French or German coinages, 
francs or florins, found acceptance, the Spanish rial and the 
English sovereign are privileged by retaining their monetary 
value. For small change the inhabitants of Sedeyr, 'Aared, and 
Yemamah avail themselves of what they call a " Djedeedah," or 
" new coin," doubtless so entitled on the principle of lucus a 
non lucendo, for it is in fact very old ; a piece of debased silver 
about the size of a full-grown sixpence, and which, so far as the 
faint vestiges of inscription and superscription can with pain 
and labour be deciphered, though oftener not a vestige of them 
remains, seems to have issued from the Egyptian mint at a date 
far anterior to the Mohammed-' Alee dynasty. The smallest 
currency in Nejed bears the name of Khordah; it consists of 
little irregular copper bits, now square, now round, sometimes 
triangular, often polygonal; these are the melancholy produc- 
tions of the Basrah mint, at a date of two or three hundred 
years back. The inscription, which gives the names of the 
local governors who issued this coinage, is almost Cufic, so 
coarse and angular are the letters. But Khordah or Djedeedah, 
all is foreign; the Wahhabee government has not nor ever had 
a mint of its own. 

But in Hasa we find an entirely original and a perfectly 
local coinage, namely, the " Toweelah," or " long bit," as it is 
very suitably called, from its I form. It consists of a small 
copper bar, much like a stout tack, about an inch in length, and 
split at one end, with the fissure slightly opened; so that it 
looks altogether like a compreiled Y. Along one of its flat- 
tened sides run a few Cufic characters, indicating the name of 
the Carmathian prince undeTwhosfe auspices this choice produc- 
tion of Arab numismatics was achieved ; nothing else is to be 
read on the Toweelah, neither date nor motto. This currency is 
available in Hasa, its native place, alone; and hence the proverb, 
" Zey' Toweelat-il-Hasa," " like a Hasa long bit," is often ap- 
plied to a person who can only make himself valuable at home. 
Besides the Toweelah, this last monetary vestige of former inde- 
pendence, the Persian " Toman," gold or silver, and the Anglo- 
Indian rupee, anna, and pice, are prevalent in Hasa. My 
readers may rightly conjecture that throughout Arabia barter is 
by far more frequent among the villagers, and even the poorer 
townsmen, than purchase; though in Hasa even a peasant can 



Chap, xi] Life at H of hoof 369 

not unfrequently count down silver Tomans and brass Towee- 
lahs when occasion requires. But among Bedouins and even 
villagers in Nejed, computation in an artificial medium sur- 
passes the ordinary range of human faculties. 

During our stay at Hofhoof, Aboo-'Eysa left untried no arts 
of Arab rhetoric and persuasion to determine me to visit 
'Oman, assuring me again and again that whatever we had 
yet seen, even in his favourite Hasa, was nothing compared 
to what remained to see in that more reniote country. My 
companion, tired of our long journey, and thinking the long 
distance already laid between him and his Syrian home quite 
sufficient in itself without further leagues tacked on to it, was 
very little disposed for a supplementary expedition. Indeed, 
considering the strong attachment that the inhabitants of Cen- 
tral Syria bear to their native land, and the difficulty that there 
is in inducing them to quit it for anything like a serious jour- 
ney, I might rather wonder that Barakat had come thus far, 
than that he was unwilling to go farther. Englishmen, on the 
contrary, are rovers by descent and habit ; my own mind was 
now fully made up to visit 'Oman at all risks, whether Barakat 
came with me or not. Meanwhile, we formed our plan for the 
next immediate stage of our route. My companion and I were 
to quit Hofhoof together, leaving Aboo-'Eysa behind us for a 
week or two at IJasa, whilst we journeyed northwards to Kateef, 
and thence took ship for the town of Menamah in Bahreyn. 
In this latter place Aboo-'Eysa was to rejoin us by the route of 
'Ajeyr, a seaport much nearer than Kateef to Hofhoof. Our 
main reason for thus separating our movements in time and 
in direction, was to avoid the too glaring appearance of acting 
in concert while yet in a land under Wahhabee government 
and full of Wahhabee spies and reporters, especially after the 
suspicions thrown on us at Ri'ad. Ulterior arrangements about 
'Oman were to be deferred till we should all meet again to- 
gether at Menamah. Aboo-'Eysa' s quality of pilgrim conductor 
obliged him to visit Bahreyn anyhow, in order there to arrange 
several affairs relative to the transport of his future companions. 
From Bahreyn his way lay by sea to Aboo-Shahr, the customary 
rendezvous of Persian pilgrims, and their starting-point for 
Mecca. The ordinary allowance of time for a caravan from 
Aboo-Shahr to Mecca, via Nejed, is about two months, inclu- 

B B 



370 Journey through Hasa [Chap, xi 

ding the sea-passage from the Persian to the Arabian coast ; 
hence the pilgrims must all be assembled and ready at Aboo- 
Shahr by the end of the first week in Show'wal (the month 
succeeding Ramadhan) at latest. 

Barakat and myself prepared for our departure; we pur- 
chased a few objects of local curiosity, got in our dues of 
medical attendance, paid and received the customary P. P. C. 
visits, and even tendered our respects to the negro governor 
Belal, where he sat at his palace door in the Kot, holding a 
public audience, and looking much like any other well-dressed 
black. No passport was required for setting out on the road to 
Kateef, which in the eyes of government forms only one and 
the same province with Hasa, though in many respects very 
different from it. The road is perfectly secure, plundering 
Bedouins or highway robbers are here out of the question. 
However we stood in need of companions, not for escort, but 
as guides. Aboo-'Eysa made enquiries in the town, and found 
three men who chanced to be just then setting out on their 
way for ELateef, who readily consented to join band with us for 
the road. Our Abyssinian hostess supplied us with a whole 
sack of provisions, and our Hofhoof associates found us in 
camels. Thus equipped and mounted, we took an almost 
touching leave of Aboo-'Eysa's good-natured wife, kissed the 
baby, exchanged an au revoir with its father, and set out on 
the afternoon of December 19th, leaving behind us many plea- 
sant acquaintances, from some of whom I received messages 
and letters while at Bahreyn. So far as inhabitants are con- 
cerned, to no town in Arabia should I return with equal confi- 
dence of finding a hearty greeting and a welcome reception, 
than to Hofhoof and its amiable and intelligent merchants. 

We quitted the town by the north-eastern gate of the Rifey- 
'eeyah, where the friends, who, according to Arab custom, had 
accompanied us thus far in a sort of procession, wished us a 
prosperous journey, took a last adieu, and returned home. 
After some hours, we bivouacked on a little hillock of clean 
sand, with the dark line of the Hofhoof woods on our left, while 
at some distance in front a copious fountain poured out its 
rushing waters with a noise distinctly audible in the stillness of 
the night, and irrigated a garden worthy of Damascus or An- 
tioch. The night air was temperate — neither cold like that of 



Chap, xi] Journey through Has a 371 

Nejed, nor stifling like that of Southern India; the sky clear 
and starry. From our commanding position on the hill I could 
distinguish Soheyl or Canopus, now setting; and following 
him, not far above the horizon, the three upper stars of the 
Southern Cross, an old Indian acquaintance ; two months later 
in 'Oman I had the view of the entire constellation. 

Next morning we traversed a large plain of light and sandy 
soil, intersected by occasional ridges of basalt and sandstone. 
Everywhere were indications of abundant moisture at a very 
slight depth below the surface ; dwarf-palms, shrubs, nay, reeds 
and rushes, sprang up at short intervals, and now and then we 
passed a little pool in some sheltered hollow, fringed with over- 
hanging bushes,, while the ruins of two large villages, now 
deserted like Auburn, witnessed to the decline of the land 
under Nejdean rule. Hundreds and hundreds of the inhabi- 
tants have recently emigrated; a few families northward, the 
greater number to the islands adjacent to Bahreyn, to the 
Persian coast, and the kindred dominions of 'Oman. 

We journeyed on all day, meeting no Bedouins and few 
travellers. At evening we encamped in a shallow valley, near 
a cluster of brimming wells, some sweet, some brackish, where 
the traces of half-obliterated watercourses, and the vestiges of 
crumbling house-walls indicated the former existence of a vil- 
lage, now also deserted. We passed a comfortable night under 
the shelter of palms and high brushwood, mixed with gigantic 
aloes and yuccas; and rose next morning early to our way. 
Our direction lay north-east. In the afternoon we caught our 
first glimpse of Djebel Mushahhar, a pyramidical peak some 
seven hundred feet high and about ten miles south of Kateef, 
and gradually mounted the broad low range of the Kateef hills, 
having Djebel Mushahhar at a considerable distance on our 
right. But the sea, though I looked towards it and for it with 
an eagerness somewhat resembling that of the Ten Thousand 
on their approach to the Euxine, remained shut out from view 
by a further continuation of the heights. Here we exchanged 
the sands of Hasa for a rocky and blackish ground; the air 
blew cold and sharp, nor was I sorry when at evening we halted 
near a cluster of trees, exactly at the boundary line of the 
Kateef territory. Our dromedaries (beautiful creatures to look 
at) were turned loose to graze, when lo ! they took advantage 

BC2 



$72 Journey through Hasa [Chap, xi 

of the dusk to sheer off, nor were they recaptured without much 
difficulty; thus giving us proof of what I had often heard, and 
jhave mentioned in the first chapter of this work, that a camel 
when once his own master, never dreams of coming home, 
except under compulsion. 

Next day we rose at dawn, and crossed the hills of Kateef by 
a long winding path, till after some hours of labyrinthine track 
we came in sight of the dark plantation-line that girdles Kateef 
itself landwards. The sea lies immediately beyond; this we 
knew, but we could not obtain a glimpse of its waters through 
the verdant curtain stretched between. 

About midday we descended the last slope, a steep sandstone 
cliff, which looks as though it had been the sea-limit of a former 
period. We now stood on the coast itself. Its level is as nearly 
as possible that of the Gulf beyond ; a few feet of a higher tide 
than usual would cover it up to the cliffs. Hence it is a de- 
cidedly unhealthy land, though fertile and even populous ; but 
the inhabitants are mostly weak in frame and sallow in com- 
plexion. The atmosphere was thick and oppressive, the heat 
intense, and the vegetation hung rich and heavy around ; my 
companions talked about suffocation, and I remembered once 
more the Indian coast. When arrived under the shade of the 
tall close-set trees, we had to keep a causeway, narrow like that 
of Bunyan's Valley of Desolation, but not equally straight, and 
where " Christian " himself might have reasonably feared to slip 
into the quagmire of mud and water on either side. Luckily 
for us, instead of Apollyon and blasphemous fiends, we met at 
every turn harmless peasants and artisans coming and going, 
and still increasing as we approached the town. Another hour 
of afternoon march brought us to Kateef itself, at its western 
portal ; a high stone arch of elegant form, and flanked by walls 
and towers, but all dismantled and ruinous. Close by the two 
burial grounds, one for the people of the land, the other for the 
Nejdean rulers and colony — divided even after death by mutual 
hatred and anathema. Folly, if you will, but folly not peculiar 
to the East. 

The town itself is crowded, damp, and dirty, and has alto- 
gether a gloomy, what for want of a better epithet I would call 
a mouldy, look; much business was going on in the market 
and streets, but the ill-favoured and very un-Arab look of the 



Chap, xi] Journey through Has a 373 

shopkeepers and workmen confirms what history tells of the 
Persian colonization of this city. Indeed the inhabitants of the 
entire district, but more especially of the capital, are a mongrel 
race, in which Persian blood predominates, mixed with that of 
Basrah, Bagdad, and the 'Irak. 

We urged our starting dromedaries across the open square 
in front of the market-place, traversed the town in its width, 
which is scarce a quarter of its length (like other coast towns), 
till we emerged from the opposite gate, fed then looked out 
with greedy eyes for the sea, now scarce ten minutes distant. 
In vain as yet, so low lies the land, and so thick cluster the trees. 
But after a turn or two we came alongside of the outer walls, 
belonging to the huge fortress of Karmoot, and immediately 
afterwards the valley opening out showed us almost at our feet 
the dead shallow flats of the bay. How different from the 
bright waters of the Mediterranean, all glitter and life, where 
we had bidden them farewell eight months before at Gaza! 
Like a leaden sheet, half ooze, half sedge, the muddy sea lay in 
view waveless, motionless; to our left the massive walls of the 
castle went down almost to the water's edge, and then turned 
to leave a narrow esplanade between its circuit and the Gulf. 
On this ledge were ranged a few rusty guns of large calibre, to 
show how the place was once guarded; and just in front of the 
main gate a crumbling outwork, which a single cannon-shot 
would level with the ground, displayed six pieces of honey- 
combed artillery, their mouths pointed seawards. Long stone 
benches without invited us to leave our camels crouching on 
the esplanade, while we seated ourselves and rested a little be- 
fore requesting the governor to grant us a day's hospitality and 
permission to embark for Bahreyn. 

The castle of Kateef stands on the innermost curve of a little 
bay, itself scolloped out in the base of a much larger one ; its 
aspect is almost due east. To north and south run out two long 
promontories, like advancing horns, tipped, the one by the 
fortress of Dareem, the other by that of Daman. In the lesser or 
inner bay before us rode at high water and stranded at ebb some 
twenty or thirty Arab barks, varying-iii size from a small schooner 
down to an open -fishing bcjefcffrut all equipped with lateen sails, 
the only rig here kngwrl. One large hull not far from land 
attracted our noticdfand we felt a suitable thrill of reverential 



374 Journey through Has a [Chap, xi 

awe on learning that it was Feysul's navy, with which, sometimes 
in line and sometimes in column (like the gallant soldier who 
singly formed square to receive the charge of the enemy), Nejed 
was to resist and conquer all the infidel fleets of Bahreyn, 
'Oman, and England united, should they madly venture an 
attack. This important vessel, squadron, or navy, was in size 
equal to an ordinary Newcastle collier, and about as well fitted 
for warlike manoeuvres, judging by the exquisite clumsiness of 
her build. However " the natives" looked on her with great 
dread, and never mentioned her but in an undertone. She was 
now getting her masts in, and completing her other fittings. 

Barakat and I sat still to gaze, speculating on the difference 
between the two sides of Arabia. But our companions, like 
true Arabs, thought it high time for " refreshment," and accord- 
ingly began their enquiries at the castle gate where the governor 
might be, and whether he was to be spoken to. When, behold ! 
the majesty of Feysul's vicegerent issuing in person from his 
palace to visit the new man-of-war. My abolitionist friends will 
be gratified to learn that this exalted dignitary is, no less than 
he of Hofhoof, a negro, brought up from a curly-headed imp to 
a woolly-headed black in Feysul's own palace, and now governor 
of the most important harbour owned by Nejed on the Persian 
Gulf, and of the town once capital of that fierce dynasty which 
levelled the Ca'abah with the dust, and filled Kateef with the 
plunder of Yemen and Syria. Farhat, to give him his proper 
name, common among those of his complexion, was a fine tall 
negro of about fifty years old, good-natured, chatty, hospitable, 
and furnished with perhaps a trifle more than the average 
amount of negro intellect. 

Aboo-'Eysa, who had friends and acquaintances everywhere, 
and whose kindly manner made him always a special favourite 
with negroes high or low, had furnished us with an introductory 
letter to Farhat, intended to make matters smooth for our future 
route. But as matters went there was little need of caution. The 
fortunate coincidence of a strong north wind, just then blowing 
down the Gulf, gave a satisfactory reason for not embarking on 
board of a Basrah cruiser, while it rendered a voyage to Bahreyn, 
our real object, equally specious and easy. Besides Farhat 
himself, who was a good easy-going sort of man, had hardly 
opened Aboo-'Eysa's note, than without more ado he bade us 



Chap, xii Journey through Hasa 375 

a hearty welcome, ordered our luggage to be brought within 
the castle precincts, and requested us to step in ourselves and 
take a cup of coffee, awaiting his return for further conver- 
sation after his daily visit of inspection to FeysuPs abridged 
fleet. 

We now stood within the palace, a building ascribed by 
tradition to Aboo-Sa'eed-el-Djenabee, or Karmoot, himself, 
though I can hardly believe it to be in reality of so ancient a 
date, and should rather assign it to the sjxjh or seventh century 
of Islam. This appears from the style of architecture here 
employed, much lighter and more elegant than what few relics 
we possess of the third century after the Hejirah; and secondly, 
from the great extent and lavish ornament of the edifice, more 
accordant with the works of long-established power than with 
the first years of a new and revolutionary dynasty, which had 
yet everything to acquire and do. Perhaps part of the founda- 
tions and the lower storey may be due to the Djenabee, while 
his successors have completed the superstructure. 

It is worth remarking, that although the arch is known and 
is continually employed in IJasa, vaulting is not equally so, 
except in its most simple or barrel form : the same may be said 
of the covered passages yet existing in the castle of Djowf ; they 
too exhibit only barrel-vaulting. The palace of Karmoot was 
accordingly the first building which we had seen, since our 
departure from Gaza, in which cross or rib-vaulting appeared, 
a decided advance in architectural science, and henceforward to 
be met with repeatedly in Bahreyn, on the Persian coast, and 
in 'Oman. In the two latter districts, a further progress in 
constructive skill is signalized by the frequency of the dome or 
cupola, formed by concentric ranges of brick or stone shaped 
to the double curve; all phenomena indicative of foreign art 
and influence. For the Arabs when left to themselves appear 
never to have been architects enough to put even a simple arch 
together, much less a vault or a dome ; and their unassisted 
edifices in Shomer, Kaseem, and Nejed, whether ancient or 
modern, afford sufficient proof of this strange ignorance or 
neglect. But when once taught by the sight of Greek or Per- 
sian building, they readily copied the superior models of Iran 
and Syria, till they became themselves tolerable, but never first- 
rate ; constructors. The relics of Himyarite labour in Hadra- 



376 Journey through Has a [Chap, xi 

maut, at Nakab-el-Hajjar for example, or elsewhere, belong to a 
different race, namely, the Abyssinian. 

Barakat and I were soon introduced into the K'hawah, and 
seated there, while a blazing fire of palm-wood dispelled the 
damp chill of these old ruins. The furniture was tolerably 
good, and the coffee excellent. Farhat now came back from 
his walk, and entered with us into animated discourse about 
Ri'ad, Feysul, 'Abd-Allah, the siege of 'Oneyzah, and so forth. 

A good supper was brought in, fish and flesh ; and after it 
had been concluded in due form by coffee and fumigation, 
Farhat, with a delicacy of politeness which almost surprised us, 
said that our luggage had been already taken upstairs, into a 
room prepared for our reception, and that, as we were doubtless 
tired, we might perhaps wish to follow it. Nay, he took the 
very civilized precaution of having us lighted up the steps — 
a measure not in the least superfluous, considering the dilapi- 
dated state of the staircase 3 it was of stone, but ruinous and 
neglected. 

My readers may, like ourselves, be somewhat amazed at such 
excess of courtesy from such a personage. But nothing happens 
on earth without a reason, and there was a sufficient one for 
this. My old patient Djowhar, after regaining his health, had 
passed by Kateef when on his way to Bahreyn. Received with all 
the honour due to a lord-treasurer, he had during his stay in the 
castle indoctrinated his brother negro with so favourable an idea 
regarding us, that Farhat would have done anything to please. 
Indeed, he proceeded this very first evening to render us the 
greatest service in his power, by having diligent enquiries made 
whether any vessel or boat was shortly to sail for Bahreyn, pro- 
mising us the first departure should be ours. We thanked him, 
and followed the lamp up the winding stairs, where we found 
our quarters. 

The next day passed, partly in Farhat's K'hawah, partly in 
strolling about the castle, town, gardens, and beach, making 
meanwhile random enquiries after boats and boatmen. Kateef 
offers what might almost be called a violent contrast to the 
general features of Arabia. The rank luxuriance of its garden 
vegetation surpasses by much the best watered spots about 
Hofhoof, and the heavy foliage drooping in the heavy air 
aroused in me remembrances of a rainy season in the Concan, 



Chap, xij Journey through Hasa 377 






and sensations which had been sleeping for many a year. The 
town itself, damp and dingy as it is, offers little to invite 
visitors. 

It was noon when we fell in with a ship-captain ready to sail 
that very night, wind and tide permitting. Farhat' s men had 
spoken with him, and he readily offered to take us on board. 
We then paid a visit to the custom-house officer to settle the 
embarkation dues for men and goods. This foreman of the 
Ma'asher, whether in accordance with orders from Farhat, or of 
his own free will and inclination, I know not, proved wonderfully 
gracious, and declared that to take a farthing of duty from such 
useful servants of the public as doctors, would be " sheyn w' 
khata'," " shame and sin." Alas, that European custom-house 
officials should be far removed from such generous and patriotic 
sentiments ! Lastly, of his own accord he furnished us with 
men to carry our baggage through knee-deep water and thigh- 
deep mud to the little cutter, where she lay some fifty yards 
from shore. Evening now came on, and Farhat sent for us, to 
congratulate us, but with a polite regret, on having found so 
speedy conveyance for our voyage. Meanwhile he let us under- 
stand how he was himself invited for the evening to supper with 
a rich merchant of the town, and that we were expected to join 
the party; nor need that make us anxious about our passage, 
since our ship-captain was also invited, nor could the vessel 
possibly sail before the full tide at midnight. 

Accordingly, after sunset we all went in great state, the 
governor at our head, to the house of our evening's entertainer. 
It was a fine three-storeyed dwelling, where the furniture and 
domestic arrangements, the small rooms, the profusion of carpets, 
with little knick-knacks of childish ornament, bespoke a Persian 
much more than an Arab taste. Nargheelahs stood ready in a 
side-closet for whoever might require them ; and while Farhat, 
his principal retainers, and ourselves were seated on the cushioned 
divan, we were drenched all round, " thrice and once," with rose- 
water, and regaled with tea in pretty china cups presented by 
well-dressed serving-lads with the grace of Shiraz and Ispahan. 
The conversation was however dull — principally on bales of 
cloth and sacks of rice ; the townsmen, who composed two- 
thirds of the assembly, having little interest in the affairs of 
Ri'ad and 'Oneyzah, except precisely what it was better to con- 



378 Journey through Hasa [Chap, xi 

ceal than to display, while Farhat and his men observed the 
gravity befitting true believers when in the presence of free- 
thinkers and infidels. The supper was long in going by ; it 
mustered four or five courses, with small Persian side-dishes 
of sweet but unknown materials ; an endless circulation of tea- 
cups complicated the business, and we did not rise till near mid- 
night. Farhat then wished us a prosperous journey, and insisted 
on receiving a letter from Basrah to assure him of our safe 
arrival there. This letter I never sent, for the simple reason 
that, more shame for me, I never once recalled to mind his 
courteous request till this very moment, (July 20th, 1864) when, 
seated on the shore of a German lake amid pines and beeches, 
I am conjuring up to memory the muddy coast and dense palm- 
groves of' Kateef. "Tempora mutantur," and I may well add, 
" et nos mutamur in illis." Be it so; the outer shell may vary, 
but the kernel of human life is everywhere much the same. 

From our town supper we returned by torchlight to the 
castle ; our baggage, no great burden, had been already taken 
down to the sea gate, where stood two of the captain's men 
waiting for us. In their company we descended to the beach, 
and then with garments tucked up to the waist waded to the 
vessel, not without difficulty, for the tide was rapidly coming 
in, and we had almost to swim for it. At last we reached the 
ship, and scrambled up her side ; most heartily glad was I to 
find myself at sea once more on the other side of Arabia. 



379 



J 

CHAPTER Xf? 

Bahreyn, Katar, and 'Oman 

When the night is left behind 
In the dim West, dim and blind, 
And the blue noon is over us, 
And the multitudinous 
Billows murmur at our feet, 
Where the Earth and Ocean meet; 
And all things seem only one 
In the universal sun. 

Shelley 

Islands of Bahreyn — Moharrek and Menamah — Their Appearance — Land- 
ing at Menamah — Our First Day there — We take Lodgings — A Bahreyn 
Dwelling — Aboo- Eysa Arrives — Scheme for Visiting 'Oman — Yoosefebn- 
Khamees — A Separation — Passage to Moharrek — We Embark for Katar — ■ 
Coasts of Bahreyn and Katar — Bedad — Description of Katar — Its Fishei'ies 
— Menaseer Bedouins — Watch-lowers — Mohammed- ebn-Thanee — His 
Residence and Character — Departure from Katar — A Ship and Crew of 
Barrfaris — Sea Hospitality — A Gale — Landing at Charak—A Visit to the 
Chief— Latest News from 'Oneyzah — Subsequent Fate of that Town and of 
Zamil — A Walk about Charak — We Embark for Linja — Landmg at 
Linja — The Town — Ddeyj and his House — D epar iter e for Sharjah — Two 
Days on Aboo-Moosa. 

Having now reached regions which, though I cannot hope they 
will be familiar to most of my readers, yet have been described 
by other travellers, my narrative will move with a more rapid 
pace. Our captain, Moleyk, welcomed us on board his craft, 
and made up a round of coffee without delay. We inhaled our 
pipes in the delightful assurance of being at last out of Wahha- 
bee territory, and beyond the reach of all "no smoking allowed'' 
regulations, and then, in nautical phrase, "turned in" under 
the shelter of a large deck-cabin near the stern, where we soon 
fell sound asleep; undisturbed, at least for my part, by all the 



380 Bahreyn and Katar [Chap, xn 

running, trampling, and shouting of the sailors getting our ship 
under weigh. 

Our voyage was delayed by twenty-four hours' detention off 
the village of Soweyk, where we took in a young chief of the 
El-Khaleefah family, on a visit to his uncle Mohammed, the pre- 
sent governor of Bahreyn. But after some three days on boards 
we came in sight of Bahreyn, and by evening were close under 
the two islands which bear that name. The southern island 
is much the larger, and is therefore often called Bahreyn to the 
exclusion of its northern companion, which more commonly 
bears the name of Moharrek, from the capital situated on its 
southern side. This town lies like a long white strip on the shore 
of the channel that separates it from the town of Menamah, 
whose buildings occupy a corresponding position on the northerly 
marge of the larger island. Thus these two seaports look each 
other in the face, somewhat like Dover and Calais, though for- 
tunately for them with friendlier feelings, since in case of war 
no Boulogne fleet would be required to cross the Bahreyn 
channel. Moharrek is far the prettier of the two to the eye, 
with its white houses, set off by darker palm-huts (for the ex- 
treme mildness of the climate renders this mode of habitation 
very common, and almost desirable), the large low palaces of 
the Khaleefah family, and two or three imposing forts close to 
the sea-shore. 

Menamah, though larger in extent than Moharrek, has a less 
showy appearance ; it is a centre of commerce, as its vis-a-vis 
is of government; and hence has fewer palaces to present, and 
less display of defensive architecture. However, near its western 
extremity, a large square mass of white building, with a few 
cannon arranged battery-like in front, announces the residence 
of 'Alee, brother of Mohammed, vice-governor of Menamah, and 
wiser than his kinsman, if report be true. Little is to be seen 
of the town itself on a sea approach ; the first range of dwell- 
ings and warehouses shuts out the rest from view ; and, except 
the palace of 'Alee, no other edifice of importance stands near 
the water's edge. 

Wearing slowly up with a side wind, we anchored before 
Moharrek, a little after sunset. The arrival of strangers, many 
or few, from north or south, is an every-hour occurrence here ; 
and a passing look, or a chance " good-morrow," was all the 



Chap, xii] Bahreyn and Katar 381 

notice taken of us by the many who thronged the landing- 
place. Having hopes that Aboo-'Eysa might have preceded 
us hither, we made for the nearest and largest coffee-house, 
where, as in barbers' shops of old, news and new comers are of 
right to be sought and found. It was now eight good months 
since we had last sat in a public coffee-house, and that in the 
suburbs of Ghazzah (or Gaza), of Palestine; the rest of our 
journey having been through lands too backward in civilization 
or too forward in bigotry, or both one and the other, to admit 
of such establishments. But Bahreyn is beyond the Wahhabee 
circle, and breathes the atmosphere, so to speak, of Basrah and 
Persia. We gladly took our seats on the high matted benches, 
amid turbaned townsmen and gaily-dressed shopkeepers, to 
enquire about the latest arrivals from the port of 'Ajeyr, whence 
Aboo-'Eysa was to embark, according to our parting agreement. 
Meanwhile the white-vested waiter prepared and presented our 
coffee, after filling the huge Nargheelahs here in use with the 
strong 'Oman tobacco, the bugbear of Ki'ad ; but here nous 
avons change tout cela. 

No news was however to be learnt touching our friend ; and 
we had now to think how and where to find a berth for passing 
the time of our sojourn, till he should arrive from IJasa. This 
was not an easy quest. Bahreyn, like most eastern localities, 
has no inns properly speaking ; and the Khans, which here as 
elsewhere apologize for that deficiency, had too unpromising 
and insecure a look to allow the fixing our residence in any 
one of them. For many hours we sought in vain where to 
establish ourselves. At last we entered a pretty coffee-house, 
much like a "Sailors' Home" in situation near the beach, 
in size and style of customers. Its owner, a very civil man, 
took our cause in hand, ordered his head man to supply 
his place awhile, and went in quest of quarters for us, taking 
Barakat along with him, while I remained behind to chat with 
sailors and gaze at the sea through a disorganized telescope 
fixed in the look-out. About nightfall, we were conducted to 
the desired spot. Here we entered by a narrow door, and 
found ourselves in a large open enclosure of palm-branches 
about eight feet high, set in the ground side by side and closely 
interwoven; within the enclosure, and divided from each other 
by a little space, stood two long palm-leaf huts ; one for us, the 



382 Bahreyn and Katar tchap. xii 

other was the abode of our sailor and his family. Our dwelling 
was about thirty feet in length by ten in breadth, with as much 
to the top of the sloping thatch-roof; a hurdle-like screen 
divided the interior into two unequal compartments; the lesser 
served for a store-room, the greater for habitation. The floor 
was strewn, the general custom here, with a thick layer of very 
small shells; over this a large reed mat had been spread. We 
made our preliminary arrangements for beautifying and fitting 
up the apartment, and were soon honoured by the presence of 
the proprietor himself, who from his pretty brick and piaster 
house close by came to see us installed, while his servants 
brought according to custom the introductory supper of rice, 
fish, shrimps, and vegetables for the new guests. Of course we 
invited our good-natured friends, to whose diligence we owed 
this shelter, to partake of our meal; and we all passed together 
a very pleasant evening, with a feeling of security and calm 
such as we had hardly known since our first departure from 
Jaffa. 

Next morning we renewed our search after Aboo-'Eysa, but 
to no purpose. Not a single arrival from 'Ajeyr for many days 
past, and the north wind still prevailed, and precluded all chance 
so long as it should last. It was now the 28th December, 
1862, and we were destined to wait in daily hope and daily dis- 
appointment till the 8th January, following. 

During the twelve days that we awaited the arrival of Aboo- 
'Eysa, we passed most of our time in the various coffee-houses, 
and especially in that called a few pages back the " Sailors' 
Home," whose owner had so obligingly aided us at our first 
arrival, where our hours went by less tediously than they often 
do with strangers in a foreign land. From the maritime and in 
a manner central position of Bahreyn, my readers may of them- 
selves conjecture that the profound ignorance of Nejed regarding 
Europeans and their various classifications is here exchanged 
for a partial acquaintance with those topics ; thus, " English " and 
" French," disfigured into the local " Ingleez " and " Fransees," 
are familiar words in Menamah, though Germans and Italians, 
whose vessels seldom or never visit these seas, have as yet no 
place in the Bahreyn vocabulary; while Dutch and Portuguese 
seem to have fallen into total oblivion. But Russians, or 
" Moscop " (that is, Muscovites), are alike known and feared, 



Chap, xii] Bahreyn and Katar 383 

thanks to Persian intercourse and the instinct of nations. Be- 
side, the policy of Constantinople and Teheran are freely and 
at times sensibly discussed in these coffee-houses, no less 
than the stormy diplomacy of Nejed and her dangerous en- 
croachments ; ship news, commerce, business, tales of foreign 
lands, and occasionally literature, supply the rest of the con- 
versation. 

Of the local governor and the men of state we saw little ; in- 
deed we avoided them as much as possible, and even declined 
a chance invitation from 'Alee to his palace ; thinking it enough 
knowledge of the Bahreyn El-Khaleefahs to hear " their evil 
report;" nor do I imagine that a nearer acquaintance with them 
would have brought us to a more favourable opinion. 

At last, on the 6th of January, 1863, the wind veered to the 
south, and on the 9th of the month our long-expected Aboo- 
'Eysa arrived, with a squadron of retainers. Schemes were 
formed and discussed, rejected or revised, till at last we agreed 
on adopting a plan sketched out by our friend while with us in 
his Hofhoof retirement, and in furtherance of which a large 
part of the wares he now brought with him had been purchased. 
This plan was not a bad one, though circumstances beyond the 
reach of ordinary calculation concurred to render its success 
less complete than it might otherwise have been. 

Aboo-'Eysa had procured above twenty loads of the best 
Has%;4ate8, the genuine Khalas, well packed in oblong rush- 
cases, and at the same time Ee had given order for four hand- 
some mantles of Hofhoof manufacture, woven and embroidered 
by the most skilful hands : three for presentation to an equal 
number of chiefs whose domains lay between Bahreyn and 
Mascat; the fourth and costliest garment for the Sultan of 
'Oman himself, in acknowledgment of patronage afforded our 
friend on a former occasion. Meantime I was to accompany 
the gifts and their bearer under the scientific character of a 
deep-read physician, on the look-out for I know not what herbs 
and drugs, which I was to suppose discoverable in the south- 
eastern regions; and when, under covert of the introduction 
thus obtained, and the good will likely to ensue, I had succeeded 
in sufficiently .examining the land and the people, I was to 
return to Aboo-Shahr, where I should find Barakat arrived long 
before with Aboo-'Evsa. For this latter had about three months 



84 Bahreyn and Katar [Chap, xii 



to pass at the above-mentioned town, while getting his pilgrims 
together, and preparing for their journey across Arabia to 
Mecca. Barakat, so said Aboo-'Eysa, could not safely accom- 
pany me; much less could he take my place. 

Yoosef-ebn-Khamees, for that was the name of my destined 
associate, was a very curious individual, and not unlike some of 
Shakespeare's supplementary characters. He was a native of 
Hasa, half a jester and half a knave; witty, reckless, hare- 
brained to the last degree, full of jocose or pathetic stories, of 
poetry, traditions, and fun of every description, whether coarse 
or delicate. But he had one sterling quality, which in an affair 
like the present more than counterbalanced whatever weighed 
in the opposite scale, namely a boundless attachment, a real de- 
votion to Aboo-'Eysa, not inferior to that of Evan Maccombich 
to Fergus, or of Caleb to Ravenswood. The origin of this 
feeling was not however in kith and kin ; it was due simply to 
Aboo-'Eysa's singular kindheartedness and liberality, which had 
rescued Yoosef from utter poverty, and had maintained him 
for a considerable time past in a decent and even honourable 
position. He was now about thirty-six years of age, tall, and 
(notwithstanding a slightly comical turn of features) handsome, 
with a little black beard where some prematurely grey hairs, the 
result of horror on seeing an unlucky comrade killed by his side 
in the Bahreyn battle, contrasted oddly with his youthful appear- 
ance, and gave occasion to many a jest of others against him, 
and of him against himself. For Yoosef, like FalstafT of old, 
was " not only witty in himself, but the cause that wit was in 
other men ; " although in physical conformation he was the 
very reverse of our own jovial knight, being remarkably slim 
and slender i& form. 

Matters having been arranged on this footing, we awaited 
a favourable occasion for putting to sea. But the wind was 
adverse, and day by day dragged on till the 23rd%f jfsrfftfary, when 
a southerly breeze and a good ship combined to carry off Aboo- 
'Eysa and his retainers, with Barakat, to Aboo-Shahr, while 
Yoosef and I were to cross the channel next day for Moharrek, 
and there embark for the port of Bedaa' on the coast of Katar, 
where resided Mohammed-ebn-Thanee, the fjrst and nearest of 
the chiefs to whom our visit and our presents were addressed. 

One of those presentiments which are not *w uniformly ex- 



Chap, xii] Bahreyn and Katar 3S5 

plicable as frequently experienced by human creatures, regard- 
ing the shipwreck whichjpfci fact lay before me, led me to entrust 
Barakat with the kee^ng of all my papers, notes, and whatever 
I had of any value^ except a small stock of money to meet the 
emergencies of the journey. 

It was a fair and sunshiny afternoon when, after many good 
wishes for a speedy meeting, and mutual recommendations, as 
wont among parting friends, we separated — i)±>oo-'Eysa, accom- 
panied by his retainers and Barakat, going on board their 
schooner for Aboo-Shahr, while Yoosef-ebn-Khamees and my- 
self remained to keep house, and passed the evening in compa- 
rative silence. I felt uncommonly lonely ; but the hope of an 
interesting and well-occupied journey, followed by a prompt 
and successful return, went far to console me. Yoosef too, 
though as melancholy as " a gib-cat or a lugged bear " at the 
departure of his patron, beguiled his fancy by prognosticating 
a prosperous voyage for Aboo-'Eysa, without sea-sickness or 
danger. But hope deceived us both. 

Next morning we took a small boat, and crossed over to Mo- 
harrek. Just off the Castle-point lay our bark, ill-built, ill-rigged, 
and ill-manned; but these defects mattered little, as we did not 
intend to take her farther than Katar, a short sail; besides, any 
ship, however slight, if but guided by a knowing pilot, may ven- 
ture almost fearlessly on the quiet waters of this bay, to which 
the Arabs have given the name of " Bahr-ul-Benat," or "the 
Girls' Sea ; " whether from visions of mermaids — here, no less 
than the "Cacquets" of Brest, the object of popular credulity; 
or perhaps from the gentle, peaceful, and smiling character of 
the bay itself. We put our goods and chattels on board, recom- 
mended them to the care of the captain, an " old old man, with 
beard," which should have been "as white as snow" had it but 
been better washed and combed; and after receiving his assur- 
ance that all would be ready for sailing next morning at sunrise, 
we returned to the town. Here a storm (from which Aboo- 
'Eysa, as we learnt near three months later, suffered greatly) 
delayed us. On the morning of the 26th we went on board. 
Our ship, in size equal to a small brig, was full of live stock ; 
passengers of all ages and sexes, but of low condition, bound 
for Katar,, six or eight sailors, and some scores of sheep to keep 
us company. (N.B. No cabin.) Yoosef and I took possession 

c c 



386 



Bahreyn and Katar 



[Chap. XII 



of the highest and most dignified post, that on deck near the 
stern, and a little before noon we got under weigh. The sea 
was still roughish, and my companion sea-sick — Nelson was so 
occasionally, I believe ; for myself, I enjoyed an immunity from 
that annoyance, purchased by many voyages and much rough 
weather on the ocean. 

On the 29th we entered Bedaa', the principal town of Katai 
j at the present day, and the miserable capital of a miserable 
1 province. To have an idea of Katar, my readers must figure 
to themselves miles on miles of low barren hills, bleak and 
sun-scorched, with hardly a single tree to vary their dry mono- 
tonous outline : below these a muddy beach extends for a 
quarter of a mile seaward in slimy quicksands, bordered by a 
rim of sludge and seaweed. If we look landwards beyond the 
hills, we see what by extreme courtesy may be called pasture 
land, dreary downs with twenty pebbles for every blade of 
grass ; and over this melancholy ground scene, but few and far 
between, little clusters of wretched, most wretched, earth cot- 
tages and palm-leaf huts, narrow, ugly, and low ; these are the 
\^ jyillages, or rather the " towns" (for so the inhabitants style 
them), of Katar. Yet poor and naked as is the land, it has 
evidently something still poorer and nakeder behind it, some- 
thing in toiort even more devoid of resources than the coast 
itself, and liie inhabitants of which seek here by violence what 
they cannotfed at home. For the villages of Katar are each 
and all carefully walled in, while the downs beyond are lined 
with towers, a&d here and there a castle " huge and square " 
makes with its tittle windows and narrow portals a display of 
strength hardly less, so it might seem, superfluous than the 
Tower of London in the nineteenth century. But these castles 
are in reality by no means superfluous, for Katar has wealth in 
plenty, and there are robbers against whom that wealth must 
be guarded. 

Whence comes this wealth amid so much apparent poverty, 
and in what does it consist % What I have just described is, so 
to speak, nothing but the heaps of rubbish and the rubbishy 
miners' huts about the shaft's mouth ; \close by is the mine 
itself, a rich and never-failing store. This toine is no other than 
the sea, no less kindly a neighbour to the inhabitants of Katar 
than their dry land is a niggard host. % this bay are the 



Chap xii] Bahreyn and Katar 387 

besV^OttosTcopious pearl-fisheries of the Persian Gulf, and 
in addition an abundance almost beyond belief of whatever 
other giftkthe sea can offer or bring. It is from the sea ac- 
cordingly, licit from the land, that the natives of Katar subsist, 
and it is also mainly on the sea that mey dwell, passing amid 
its waters the one half of the year in search of pearls, the other 
half in fishery or trade. Hence their real homes are the count- 
less boats which stud the placid pool, or stand drawn up in long 
black lines on the shore^ while little care is taken to ornament 
their land houses, the abodes of their wives and children at 
most, and the unsightly strong-boxes of their gathered treasures. 
" We are all from the highest to the lowest slaves of one master, 
Pearl," said to me one evening Mohammed-ebn-Thanee, chief 
of Bedaa' ; nor was the expression out of place. All thought, 
all conversation, all employment, turns on that one subject; 
eveiything else is mere by-game, and below even secondary 
consideration. 

But if the people of Katar have peace within, they are 
exposed on the land side 'to continual marauding inroads from 
their Bedouin neighbours^ the Menaseer and Aal-Morrah. 
Hence the necessity for th\ towers of refuge which line the 
uplands : they are small circular buildings from twenty-five to 
thirty feet in height, each with a door about half-way up the 
side and a rope hanging out; by this compendious ladder the 
Katar shepherds, when scared by a sudden attack, clamber up 
for safety into the interior of the tower, and once there draw in 
the rope after them, thus securing their own lives and persons 
at any rate, whatever may become of their cattle. For to scale 
a wall fifteen- feet high is an exploit beyond the ingenuity of 
the most skilful Bedouin. 

On landing at Bedaa' we went right to the castle, a donjon- 
keep, with outhouses at its foot, offering more accommodation 
for goods than for men. Under a mat-spread and mat-hung 
shed within the court sat the chief, Mohammed-ebn-Thanee, a 
shrewd wary old man, slightly corpulent, and renowned for 
prudence and good-humoured easiness of demeanour, but close- 
fisted and a hard customer at a bargain ; altogether, he had 
much more the air of a business-like avaricious pearl-merchant 
(and such he really is), than of an Arab ruler. Round him 
were placed many sallow-featured individuals, their skins sod- 

c c 2 



388 Bahreyn and Katar [Chap, xn 

dened by frequent sea-diving, and their faces wrinkled into 
computations and accounts. However, Ebn-Thanee, though 
eminently a " practical " man, had thus far put his sedentary 
habits to intellectual profit, that by dint of study he had ren- 
dered himself a tolerable proficient in literary and poetical 
knowledge, and took great pleasure in discussing topics of this 
nature. Nay, he even pretended to have some medical skill, 
and did I think really possess about the same amount of it that 
many an old woman may boast of in a country village of Lan- 
cashire or Essex. Besides, he liked a joke, and could give and 
take one with a good grace. 

He enquired about my journey. I replied that I had no spe- 
cial business on hand for Katar, and that I was merely on my 
way to Mascat in search of herbs and drugs. He apologized 
for want of room to lodge us suitably in the palace itself. I cast 
a look round its narrow precincts and loop-holed stone walls, 
and fully accepted the excuse. Ebn-Th^nfee had by anticipa- 
tion caused a warehouse close by to be eiiriptied of the dates it 
held, and fittedup in Katar style for our deception; that is, mats 
were spread, and nothing more. We df course expressed due 
thanks for hospitality here regarded asAmunificent, drank coffee, 
talked awhile, and retired. 

It was ten days before we could arrange to quit Bedaa\ Some 
excursions to neighbouring places helped me to fill up the time, 
and enlarge my acquaintance with the district. Having decided 
to go by sea, and thus make direct for Sharjah, the first consi- 
derable town situated within the territory of 'Oman Proper, a 
worthy young sea-captain, native of Charak, on the opposite 
Persian coast, offered us his ship and services. We made our 
parting arrangements, and on February 6, while a lovely evening 
promised a fair morrow, and a light west wind seemed to ensure 
us a good and speedy passage to Sharjah, we took our leave of 
Mohammed-ebn-Thanee, who had now become very intimate 
in his way, said adieu to three or four other friends acquired at 
Bedaa', and entrusted ourselves to a little boat, wherein Faris, 
to give our captain his proper name, with his younger brother 
Ahmed and t$$Q of the crew, had come to fetch us off to the 
schooner. She w^s large and well built, provided with an ele- 
gant captain's catilk a fore-cabin, and other nautical arrange- 
ments; in fine, she was infinitely superior to the miserable craft 



Chap, xii] Bahreyn and Katar 389 

in which we had J[§^ TBahreyn. She was built for quick sailing, 
with two masts, large lateen sails, and a jib; her stern and prow 
were prettily carved; indeed the latter surmounted the waves 
with a sea-nymph figure-head ; a token of non-compliance with 
the> Islamitic prohibition, which excludes the representation of 
whatever has life from the sphere of ornamental art. 

When we got on board, the crew, all of them cousins to each 
other seventh remove, and relations of the captain himself, re- 
ceived us very heartily. It is the custpm 7 on most Gulf ships 
that passengers, of high or low degree, no matter, are looked 
upon as the captain's own guests for the voyage, and as such 
have a right to his table and fare, free of extra charge. My 
readers will have remarked long before this, that in the East 
the relative position of travellers, whether by land or sea, and 
of those who conduct them, has a very intimate, nay almost a 
family character ; all are considered as forming one moving 
household during the journey or voyage. Nor are the links 
thus united wholly broken by separation at the journey's end; 
the title of a special friendship and fellowship remains for years, 
and may be claimed afresh by either party whenever need or 
good will suggests, nor can such claim be decently rejected. 
The reasons of this are too obvious for explanation; railways 
and other wholesale means of communication do away with 
these feelings, by removing the causes which produce them in 
uncivilized countries. 

A violent south-easter soon seized us ; we drove before it, and 
when morning dawned over the tossing waves we were far away 
from the direction of Sharjah, and had entered on the deep 
waters known by the name of "Ghubbat-Faris," or the " Persian 
depth," beyond the prospect of returning to Katar, or of reach- 
ing 'Oman, and on the contrary rapidly approaching the northern 
coast. Our captain attempted many nautical manoeuvres to 
bring the ship about, but in vain, and he was at last obliged to 
give up the trial, and to make straight for Barr-Faris. After 
some hours the huge rounded outline of Djebel Atranjah, or 
"the Citron mountain," which overtops the bay of Charak 
itself, rose before us, and soon we had the whole line of the 
Persian coast m view. 

It contrasts strongly with the Arabian. Its mountains are 
lofty, often twa-.tUqusand feet in height, rough in outline, yet 



390 Bahreyn and Katar [Chap, xii 

less barren than the Arab coast-range. In some places the crags 
come right down to the sea ; in others a shore strip, ploughed 
up by violent winter torrents, but with no perennial stream to 
water it, extends two or three miles back towards the inte- 
rior, till it is lost within the mountain gorges. One wide and 
romantic-looking pass, a little to the east, behind Charak, leads 
to Shiraz; and by this road the. invading armies of Persia have 
often descended on Barr-Faris. The mountain sides are thinly 
sprinkled with fig-trees, orange-trees, and other wood vegeta- 
tion ; here and there is a streak of scanty tillage ; in the plain 
below are palm-groves, but meagre and unproductive, with 
just enough of other cultivation to keep the 'inhabitants from 
famine. 

Next morning the wind proved still unfavourable, and pre- 
cluded sailing. To pass the time, Faris took us in his company 
to pay a visit of politeness to the local chief, 'Abd-el-'Azeez-el- 
Meteyree. We found him highly excited by good news fresh 
come from 'Oneyzah. For the first time since our departure 
from Ri'ad, we now got hold of important tidings respecting 
that fated town. I will here relate what 'Abd-el-'Azeez told us, 
and then take occasion to add a brief recital of the events 
which followed soon after ; events melancholy in themselves, 
and precursors of much mischief. 

Having at last gathered together his forces, about the middle 
of December, Feysul gave the signal, and 'Abd-Allah set out, 
leading with him the entire force of Hasa, besides the troops 
of ' Aared, and whatever else remained behind from the central 
and southern provinces; thus mustering a body of fifteen 
thousand men or near it; a force which, when added to the 
besieging army already in the field, must have amounted to 
twenty-three or twenty-four thousand regular troops at least, 
besides four or five thousand Bedouins, who after long wavering 
which side to take, now prudently determined to join the certain 
winner. 'Oneyzah was thus left to her own unaided resources, 
which might come up to four thousand fighting men at the 
utmost. 

After much skirmishing, , a decisive battle was fought in 
January. Zamil and El-Khey'yat are said to have performed 
prodigies of valour, and 'Abd-Allah was near being surrounded 
and killed, as it is much to be regretted that he was not in good 



Chap, xii] Bahreyn and Katar 3 9 1 

earnest. But where the combatants are in the respective pro- 
portions; of five to one, a drawn battle is for the less numerous 
party hardly better than a defeat ; and the men of 'Oneyzah, 
now fully aware of the, overwhelming superiority of the enemy, 
and that they themselves could in consequence but ill afford 
the loss of a single man, shut themselves up within their walls, 
and were blockaded in form. 

So stood affairs when 'Abd-el~'Azeez gave us what was then 
the latest information. The rest I learn^jn April, when on the 
point of leaving the confines of Arabia for Bagdad. After more 
than a month of close siege, the outer walls first, and then the 
inner, gave way before the Wahhabee artillery, and the town 
was taken by assault. The inhabitants fought to the last ; when 
all hope was over, Zamil and Khey'yat cut their way through 
the assailants, and escaped to a southern refuge in Wadi Nejran, 
where they are believed to be yet concealed from the vengeance 
of the conqueror. But seven hundred from among the principal 
citizens of 'Oneyzah were slaughtered on the spot, besides a 
promiscuous massacre of the common people ; and the fated 
town was plundered and utterly ruined, not to rise again so 
long as the Wahhabee should be master of the land. 

We drank coffee and left the audience. Faris, with much 
politeness and a certain feeling of good taste not common in 
the East, proposed to take me a walk about the town, and to 
show me whatever in it was worth the seeing. This was not 
much • however, my cicerone pointed out to me the broken 
traces of the old outer walls, and indicated their course amid 
fields and trees, with all the interest of the Antiquary at the 
Praetorium of Kaimprunes. Hence he led me to the foot of 
the small marly cone on whose summit frowns a dismantled 
round tower, a rival of our own Norfolk Caistor Castle in form 
and size. 

The rest of the day passed in enquiries how to continue our 
journey. Little traffic exists between Barr-Faris and Sharjah, 
whither we now desired to direct our course, and we were in 
consequence advised to take passage on board a ship of Chiro, 
then lying in the Charak harbour. Putting to sea next day, 
February 10th, about midnight we were in the bay of Linja or 
Linya, where countless lights gleaming from the shore cheered 
the darkness, and made me long for the discoveries of dawn. 



392 Bahreyn and Katar [Chap, xa 

Day came at last, and showed us anchored at some two 
hundred yards from land ; between it and us lay a mass of 
shipping, large and small; a theatre of white houses amid trees 
and gardens lined the coast far away on either side of the 
harbour. 

On the morning of February i ith we came ashore. Since the 
epoch when Sultan Sa'eed made this place his own, and rendered 
it a free port, exempt from all custom-house exactions, a slight 
harbour-duty alone excepted, Linja has rapidly risen in impor- 
tance, and has of late years attained five times the size of its 
former self under Persian misgovernment and extortion. Another 
source of its actual prosperity is the wise toleration which, in 
accordance with the principles of 'Omanee administration, has 
replaced Shiya'ee narrow-mindedness, and attracted numerous 
residents. In consequence, new houses, indicating by their 
lighter construction recent well-being, run far east and west 
along the bay, or reach back towards the mainland, till it requires 
an hour or more to walk at an even pace from one end of their 
range to the other. Opposite the dock rises a jutting rock, 
almost the only one hereabouts ; it is crowned by an old castle 
and tower of mediaeval look, now ungarrisoned, for Thoweynee 
sensibly trusts rather to wooden than to stone walls for the de- 
fence of his sea-ports. The palace of the 'Omanee governor, a 
lad of twenty or thereabouts, by name Seyf, and native of the 
Batinah, stands farther east; it forms a large square, four storeys 
high, with ogive windows and much Persian ornament; its 
general effect reminded me of some old town-halls on the Con- 
tinent, particularly in Belgium and Flanders. Farther on are 
several shipwright yards, where many vessels are in active pro- 
gress of construction; some of them were of large size, and, so 
far as I could reduce the computations of this country to En- 
glish measure, of about a hundred and fifty to two hundred tons 
burden. The shipwrights themselves are often Indians from 
the Bombay side. 

Yoosef went to look out for a lodging for both of us, and I 
remained awhile seated at the foot of the old ruined tower 
already mentioned, to contemplate the first scene of unmixed 
prosperity that I had beheld since my first entrance on Central 
Arabia and to long for the return of my companion, with tidings 



Chap, xii] Bahreyn and Katar 393 

of a lodging and a breakfast. These he brought at last; and with 
him came apug-nosed, thickset, good-natured young fellow, whose 
grimed hands and soot-stained dress announce him for a black- 
smith. Do'eyj, for such is his name (identical by the way with 
the Doeg of David's time, so little does the East change), is a 
native of Hasa, but long since established here in his honest and 
profitable calling. He purposes to have us both to board and 
lodging, and now comes to present his compliments in person, 
and invite me to accompany him to his ¥uicanian abode. Here 
we passed three days, waiting for a change of wind to bear us 
to Sharjah. There was neither necessity nor thought of calling 
on the governor Seyf ; Linja is a commercial town, a sea-port, 
part and parcel of the great world where everyone comes and 
goes for himself, and no one seeks acquaintance with others, 
except for some special reason and purport. In the enchanted 
circle of Arabia, where all dance on since four thousand years 
at least in the same magic ring, nev^overstepping its limits, 
nor enlarging it to admit a foreign measure, chiefs, sultans, 
governors, and the other " dons " of the land, are not to be 
passed by without receiving^ the honour of a salutation, and 
without conferring in re-fcurn the ostentatious tokens of their 
greatness in the form, of hospitality; a very "patriarchal" but 
nowise business-like proceeding. Once without that magic 
circle, we, like $ie rest, followed the world's tide, which carries 
everyone forward on his owy line, straight be it or crooked, but 
unblended with the track/.bf those around, except where the 
eddy of pleasure or profit whirls them for the hour together. 

On the 1 6th of the month we made sail a little after noon, 
in a ship bound for Sharjah. At dawn we were off the rocky 
islancU&f Aboo-Moosa (mutilated into Bomosa in many maps — 
a fair example of what Arab words become in the mouths of 
English sea-captains), and here our skipper resolved to anchor, 
for the waves ran high, and to continue our voyage would have 
compromised the lives of the fleecy survivors. We sought out 
a little creek, and there anchored to await calmer weather. 

A high conical peak five or six hundred feet in elevation and 
of volcanic appearance, some ridges of basaltic rock, and the 
rest of the island composed of ups and downs covered with 
grass and brushwood — such is Aboo-Moosa; its total length 



394 Bahreyn and Katar [Chap, xn 

being about five miles, and its breadth between two and three. 
At its south-western corner are found a few brackish wells; 
thus provided, Aboo-Moosa is not an unfrequent shelter and 
temporary abode for crews in sea-chances like our own, though 
the only regular inhabitants of the island are wild-fowl and 
conies. The eastern side of the island, on which we had cast 
anchor, presents many points of retreat; the western is iron- 
bound, and the waves now broke on it in white foam. Far 
off over the sea to the south-west we could just distinguish 
a dim dream of rocks belonging to Seer, an island in the 
Pearl Bay. 

The comparative solitude of the place produced a great effect 
on the imaginative mind of my companion Yoosef, unaccustomed 
to such loneliness ; and he observed, with a melancholy laugh, 
"Were all our friends ashore to guess where we are at this 
moment, would any one of them hit on Aboo-Moosa % " This 
he said while standing on the shore ; for, finding that our stay 
might be a long one, we had after consultation agreed to swim 
to land; inasmuch as our craft was moored at some distance 
.from the beach, and had not the advantage of a jolly-boat, or 
" D^gliboQt," as Arabs call it, with a slight modification of the 
English name. So a jib-sail is here a " Djeeb," a main-mast 
" Meyanah," a brig " Breek," &c. We carried each on his 
head, one a carpet, one the coffee-pots, another the cooking 
utensils, and so forth, till we had enough to establish a complete 
land encampment high up on the beach opposite the ship. 

Two days we made Aboo-Moosa our abode, awaiting a lull 
in the gale, now favourable, but too strong. To kill the time, 
we clambered up crags, made friends with the herdsmen and 
the fishermen, who were no less desirous than ourselves to find 
some one to talk to, and explored the island from one end to 
another; while Yoosef, unaware that all that glitters is not 
gold, collected large bits of spar, here in great plenty, con- 
ceiving them to be something very precious. Nay, though it 
was now mid-February, the mildness of the atmosphere encou- 
raged us to repeated feats of swimming, though we little ex- 
pected that within a few weeks we should have occasion to 
bring it to a more serious trial. 

" How happily the days of Thalaba went by" in such amicable 



Chap, xii] Bahreyn and Katar 395 

society, and amid such varied amusements ! I at any rate had 
here no business on hand, medical or other, and felt lazily glad 
when I heard the roar of the breakers announcing from hour 
to hour the impossibility of leaving our Arab Patmos. How- 
ever, all things on earth or sea must have an end, and on the 
evening of the 16th, the sea had calmed into a ripple, under 
the drooping westerly breeze ; we swam on board again, and 
before sunset Aboo-Moosa was fadinq, perhaps for ever, from 
our retrospective view. 



396 



CHAPTER XIII 
The Coasts of 'Oman — A Shipwreck — Finis 

Yes, I remember well 

The land of many hues, 
Whose charms what praise can tell, 
Whose praise what heart refuse ? 
Sublime, but neither bleak nor bare, 
Nor misty are the mountains there ; 
Softly sublime, profusely fair, 
Up to their summits clothed in green, 
And fruitful as the vales between, 
They lightly rise 
And scale the skies, 
And groves and gardens still abound ; 
For where no shoot 
Could else take root, 
The peaks are shelved and terraced round. 

H. Taylor 

Arrival at Sharjah — Its Khowr or Harbour — Dispositions of the People — 
Embarknient on a Ship of Soweyk for Sohar — We arrive at Ormtiz — The 
Island — The Portuguese Fort — Pharos- Tower — Passing Cape Mesandum 
— Leymah — Scenery arid Village — Kalhat — The Bdtinah — landing at 
Sohar — Our Host 'Eysa — His House — Domestic Architecture in 'Oman — 
We embark for Mascat — Coast of the Bdtinah — Crew arid Passengers — 
Parka — Sowddah Islands — A Sudden Storm — Driving before the Wind 
— The Ship Founders — Some Escape in the Boat and on a Plank — Further 
Incidertts of the Night — Several more are Drowned — A Desperate Resolu- 
tion averted — We make for Shore — Loss of the Boat — A Hard Swim — 
Nine come to Land — Their Conduct — Our Whereabouts — A Dreary 
Morning — We set out for the Sultan's Palace at Balhat — Farzah — Palace 
of the Bathah — Thoweynee and his Court — Reception — Good Treatment — 
Our Boat — Alms Received — Meeting with Two Albanians — Their Story — 
Details regarding Thoweynee — Our Own Position — Departure from the 
Bathah — Matrah — Arrival at Mascat — Our Host — A Friend in Need — ■ 
A Koweyt Ship — Departure from Mascat — Constellations — Return up the 
Persian Gulf — A Typhoid Fever — Arrival at Aboo-Shahr — At Basrah — 
Kind Reception on an English Steamer — Arrival at Bagdad — Meeting 
with Barakat — Return to Syria — Conclusion. 

On the morning of the 16th February, 1863, we sighted the 
'Omanee coast — long, low, and sandy, but well lined with palm- 



Chap, xiii] The Coasts of 'Oman 397 

groves and villages ranged along the glistering shore. Far in 
the distance like a cloud rose the heights of Bereymah or Djebel- 
'Okdah; and to the north, another blue day-vision indicated 
the peaks of Ro'os-el-Djebal, and Cape Mesandum. Our course 
lay for Sharjah ; and, after some tacking and veering, we worked 
up to the entrance of its harbour, a narrow creek, opening out 
at right angles into the sea, and then, after some forty yards, 
turning sharp to run inland, parallel with its parent ocean, for a 
league and more, much like the line followed by the Yare from 
Gorleston to Yarmouth — but here the resemblance stops. At 
the harbour entrance is a bar, to cross which requires skill 
and experience; beyond the water is perfectly calm, and not 
very deep; enough indeed for fishing boats and 'long-shore 
cruisers, but a large ship would not find wherewithal to float 
her. 

Here for the first time we were in what is properly called 
'Oman. Putting foot on shore I was strongly reminded of 
India, and that in more than one particular. A mild mellow- 
ness of climate, very^different from the brisk air of Toweyk or 
Shomer, no less than hpm the heavier atmosphere of Has a and 
Kateef ; a style of housebuilding not unlike that of Baroda and 
Cambay ; the dress of the inhabitants, a broad white or fringed 
cloth wrapped round their loins and reaching down to the 
knees, a light turban or a coloured Indian handkerchief knotted 
round the head; their dusky- complexion, slim forms, and easy 
gait — all this, and other peculiarities of nature and art too 
minute for description, suggested the idea of Guzerat and Cutch 
rather than of Arabia, and contributed to explain and justify 
the distinction drawn by the 'Omanees between their country 
and the rest of the Peninsula. 'Abbas, the sheep-merchant, 
had constituted himself our host; his house lay amid a laby- 
rinth of lanes and byways, and though within the city walls was 
constructed of wood and thatch onlyJ But the inside was well 
furnished and cheerful, and if any deficiencies existed, they were 
covered by an almost lavish hospitality. 

Our hours went by here in a peculiarly friendly manner, in 
visits, dinners, and suppers ; ftr the natives of Sharjah seemed 
anxious to make us experience the truth of what I had often 
heard elsewhere regarding their sociable disposition. The guest 
in this town finds a much greater variety in the fare set before 






398 The Coasts of 'Oman [Chap, xiii 

him than In Arabia Proper and among Arabs : fish, flesh, prawns, 
eggs, vermicelli, rice, sweetmeats of all kinds, honey, butter, 
dates, good leavened bread, anchrtfrer eatables are placed before 
him — not piled up in one huge platter after Nejdean fashion, 
but each placed in its separate dish ; while the repeated invita- 
tions to vigorous trencher-work might seem excessive in number 
and urgency even to a starving man. 

On the fourth day we sailed in a small vessel, belonging to a 
man of Soweyk, to take our chance of fair gales to round Me- 
sandum and reach the Batinah. We bade a friendly farewell 
to 'Abbas and others who had accompanied us down to the 
water's edge, and embarked. It was now near noon, the 20th 
of February, the flood was in; " a light wind blew from the 
gates of the South," and out we danced into the green sea. 

On the third evening of our north-easterly course we were 
driven close under Larej, a dreary-looking island, rock-girt and 
scantily inhabited. Neither landing-place nor safe anchorage 
was here to be had, so the crew managed to get the ship round 
Larej, and we now ran before the wind for Ormuz; the sailors 
showed more skill in managing the little canvas we could bear 
than I had given them credit for. 

I was not at all sorry to have an opportunity for visiting an 
island once so renowned for its commerce, and of which its 
Portuguese occupants used to say, that were the world a golden 
ring, Ormuz would be the diamond signet. The general appear- 
ance of Ormuz indicates an extinguished volcano, and such I 
believe it really is ; the circumference consists of a wide oval 
wall formed by steep crags, fireworn and ragged ; these enclose 
a central basin, where grow shrubs and grass; the basaltic 
slopes of the outer barrier run in many places clean down 
into the sea, amid splinter-like pinnacles and fantastic crags of 
many colours, like those which lava often assumes on cooling. 
Between west and north a long triangular promontory, low and 
level, advances to a considerable distance, and narrows into a 
neck of land which is terminated by a few rocks and a strong 
fortress, the work of Portuguese builders, but worthy of taking 
rank amid Roman ruins — so solid are the walls, so compact the 
masonry and well-cemented brickwork, against which three long 
centuries of sea-storm have broken themselves in vain. The 
greater part of the promontory itself is covered with ruins; here 



chap, xiii] The Coasts of y Oman 399 

stood the once thriving town, now a confused extent of desolate 
heaps, amid which the vestiges of several fine dwellings, of 
baths, and of a large church may yet be clearly made out. A 
solitary Pharos-tower of octangular form, like that of Sharjah, 
but of more graceful construction, rises at about a hundred yards 
from the land's end ; it is built of brick and stone arranged in 
herring-bone patterns. From what I have seen of analogous 
constructions elsewhere, and particularly between Bagdad and 
Kerkook, I should think this tower was originally the minaret 
of a Persian mosque, and that it was subsequently applied by 
the Portuguese to the purposes of a lighthouse. Close by the 
fort cluster a hundred or more wretched earth-hovels, the abode 
of fishermen or shepherds, whose flocks pasture within the crater ; 
one single shed, where dried dates, raisins, and tobacco are ex- 
posed for sale, is all that now remains of the trade of Ormuz. 

The storm that had driven us on Ormuz lasted three days, 
during which period it was impossible to put out. At last the 
breeze came, and on the morning of the 27th we were once 
more at sea, and running due south, till we came down oppo- 
site to the outer entrance of the Bab or Gate of Mesandum, 
through which we had now no longer need to pass. We wore 
slowly on under the pillar-like rocks (I bethought me of prints 
seen long since of Fingal's Cave and the Giant's Causeway), 
and early next morning we put in for an hour or so into a shel- 
tered recess, an inland lake were it not for the very narrow 
ribbon of water connecting it with the sea. 

Next morning dawned for us on a very pretty scene. It was 
a low shingly beach, behind which a wooded valley stretched 
far back between the mountains, and ended in deep gorges, 
also clothed with trees, though the rough granite crags peeped 
out here and there ; on our right the village of Leymah, house 
above house, and row above row, clomb up the hill-side, like 
many a hamlet seen by me in the happy days of boyhood within 
the Swiss canton of Ticino, or — but in later and less rosy times 
— on the slopes of Lebanon. Further up were herds of goats 
clinging to the mountain ledges, and shepherds loitering among 
them; below in the valley, baiids of blue-dressed peasant women 
moved in quest of water from the wells; while on the beach 
were boats large and small, drawn up, or ready for the chances 
of the fishery. 



/ 



400 The Coasts of 'Omari [Chap, xiii 

In the afternoon we went on J5oard again, and for the rest of 
the evening skirted the rock^ coast of Kalhat or Kalhoot. 
Next morning we were ofT^he Gulf of Debee, a magnificent 
bay, scarcely inferior in beauty to that of Naples ; many small 
villages are jotted on it/ shores, and behind it circles a pan- 
orama of mountains worthy of Sicily. 

Before evening we came opposite to a high precipitous peak, 
situated at a distance of ten to twelve miles from the coast. 
Hence, southwards, begins the Batinah, following the coast as 
far as Barka, and reaching inland to the slope of Djebel-Akhdar. 
This is by much the richest though not exactly the most 
important province of 'Oman. Placed with the sea on one 
side, and the high range of Djebel-Akhdar or "the green 
mountain " on the other, it is better watered than any other 
district soever of Arabia. The number of towns and villages 
in the Batinah is said to surpass a hundred ; from what I saw, 
I can readily believe it. At least the coast is one continuous 
line of gardens- and habitations, from Cape Kornah, where the 
province commences, down to Barka, where it ends ; far as the 
eye Qarf reach nothing appears, but cultivation and houses, with 
a <J£ep background of green and foliage. 

At night the breeze dropped, and we lay-to close on shore. 
With the bright glitter of Venus, welcomed by our sailors under 
the oft-questioned name of Farkad, the land wind blew, and on 
we glided smoothly, steadily, by the coast, while the captain 
and Zeyd pointed out to me village after village, and town after 
town. Early next morning before sunrise we had reached the 
roadstead of Sohar, where Yoosef and I determined to land for 
good, and to pursue the rest of our way by land; pity that we 
did not subsequently keep to our resolution ! Bidding a reluc- 
tant farewell to Zeyd and his companions, we went ashore. 
Our first enquiries were after the chief, Fakhar by name, and a 
man of great importance. But he was unluckily absent, and 
we decided to try the hospitality of an old 'Omanee acquaint- 
ance of 'Ebn-Khamees. 

The house of 'Eysa, for so he was styled, was itself of brick- 
work, but provided with wooden and thatched out-rooms, a 
pleasant arrangement for passing the hotter hours of the day, **) 
and common in 'Oman, where even at this time of year the ( ^ 
weather is very warm : indeed, all in all, the climate^TTrTat of 



H 



%*. 



m^ 



/ 



Chap, xiii] The Coasts of Oman 401 

Bornbay^and though the latitude is some degrees to the north, 
the temperature, from local causes, is not a whit less. A pecu- 
liar feature of 'Omanee domestic architecture, and one which 
has its significance, is the absence of any attempt at privacy, I 
mean the privacy of the harem. In Nejed, and even in Has a, 
Shomer, and the Djowf, we have seen that a distinction is 
aimed at between the men's and the women's apartments — not 
indeed so rigorously as in Syria and Egypt, yet enough to indi- 
cate a degree of jealousy, at least an unwillingness to admit a 
guest into the family life, or to allow him a glimpse into its 
private mysteries. But in 'Oman the mutual footing of the 
sexes is almost European, and the harem is scarcely less open 
to visitors than the rest of the house ; while in daily life the 
women of the family come freely forward, show themselves, and 
talk, like reasonable beings, very different from the silent and 
muffled statues of Nejed and Ri'ad. Hence it follows that the 
ground-plan of an 'Omanee dwelling differs very materially from 
that of an ordinary Arab abode, the apartments being often 
all on a line, and communicating together, not shut off into 
separate courts; while the K'hawah or sitting-room, instead of 
settling near the gate, takes up its post towards the interior, or 
even in the heart of the habitation. 

Yoosef and I intended setting off that same evening, or at 
furthest next morning, on our land journey for Mascat; we 
should thus have had eight or ten days of road before us. 
But, to our great good fortune as we imagined, and to our great 
ill-luck in reality, at the very moment that we were discussing 
our route and dinner with 'Eysa, a sea captain, bound for 
Mascat, came in, and promised to take us in his ship, saying 
that a two days' voyage would land us in the desired port, that 
the wind was favourable, and that all promised a pleasant and 
speedy passage. We had already lost so much time in cruising 
about Mesandum and Ormuz, that we thought the opportunity 
too good to be neglected. 'Eysa was of the same opinion, and 
we ended by accepting the captain's offer. 

On the thirgl day our captain, who had from the first engage- 
ment carried off our baggage on board (a measure which effec- 
tually prevented our breaking with him, as we had more than 
once thought of doing), came to 'Eysa's house and announced 
sailing time. It was the^jh of March, and we embarked. A 



402 The Coasts of 'Oman [Chap, xiii 

vague presentiment of ill, though there seemed as then no special 
reason for it, made me " sad as night " on quitting our Sohar 
friends who had accompanied us down to the beach ; the same 
feeling was, curiously enough, shared by our host 'Eysa, and he 
showed it by repeated and pressing requests that we should not 
fail to write to him on our safe arrival at Mascat and give him 
good news. Yet no cause appeared for fear, the wind was 
favourable, the sea quiet, the ship a large one — so large indeed 
that she had been obliged to anchor a long way out, and we 
had nearly half an hour's pull in the boat before reaching her. 

Our course now lay along the remaining coast of the Batinah, 
from Sohar to Barka. I was glad to find that our pilot, like 
most Asiatic navigators, kept the vessel close along shore, so 
that the fact of our being at sea made us lose but little of any- 
thing worth observing on the coast itself. The crew was very 
interesting. The captain, his nephew, and his men, amounting 
to nine in all, were partly natives of Soweyk on the coast, partly 
from neighbouring villages — Biadeeyah of course. Besides 
these we had on board ten other fellow-passengers : two from 
Djebel-'Okdah, Sonnees but not Wahhabees ; they belonged to 
one of those old Nejdean clans which are scattered through 
different parts of 'Oman, and most numerous in the Dahirah. 
Both were of amiable manners and well-read in Arab lore ; very 
ready too to make friends with all around them ; the ultimate 
destination of their journey was Mecca, which they proposed 
reaching by the sea and Djiddah, thus circumnavigating about 
two-thirds of the Peninsula. Fate had in store for one of them 
a much shorter cruise. 

A third passenger was a Nejdean, born at Manfoohah (my 
readers will remember the town close to Ri'ad) in 'Aared ; he 
was an ill-conditioned youth, who having, by his own account, 
quarrelled with his papa, had fled from the paternal roof, and 
was now, like some refractory lads elsewhere, seeking his for- 
tune in the wide world. The seven remaining seafarers were 
natives of the Batinah, all men of the lower classes, but cheerful 
and talkative like most of their countrymen. The Nejdean 
alone was ill-tempered and ugly; I should hardly think that 
his family shed many tears over his absence. In less than an 
hour we were " Hail fellow, well met !" with all; the ship was 
large and roomy, a two-master; plenty of provisions and Nar- 



Chap, xiti] Coast Scenes 403 

gheelahs at disposal were on board ; we hoped for a pleasant 
and an expeditious voyage. 

Our vessel glided on, passing Soham, Soweyk, and Mesnaa', 
till on the 8th of the month we were close off Barka. Thus 
far the coast had been uniform and level, fringed with palm and 
cocoa-nut trees, and glistering with whitewashed villages, amid 
which the pretty castles of the local chiefs shone out to the 
sun. But near Barka a range of barren iron-red rocks, at first 
low, but soon rising in height, appeared lining the shore, and 
extending eastward all the way to Mascat. A land breeze arose 
this day, and took us out to sea, till in the afternoon we got 
among the Sowadah islands — low barren reefs, about three 
leagues from land; and there we remained for a few hours, in 
a dead calm of ominous import. 

Towards evening a light south-westerly breeze sprung up, 
and we spread our sails, hoping by their aid, though the wind 
was not precisely from the right quarter, to find our way, after 
some tacking and wearing, into Mascat harbour. But the 
breeze rapidly grew till it became a strong gale, and in half an 
hour's time it was a downright storm, baffling all nautical man- 
oeuvres. One of our sails was blown to rags, the others were 
with difficulty got in, and when night closed we were driving 
under bare poles before a fierce south-wester over a raging sea, 
while the sky, though unclouded, was veiled from view by a 
general haze, such as often accompanies a high storm. The 
passengers were frightened, but the sailors and I rather enjoyed 
the adventure, knowing that we were by this time far off the 
coast, clear of all rocks, and in short anticipating nothing worse 
than a day or two extra at sea before getting round to Mascat. 
The moon rose, she was in her third quarter, and showed us a 
weltering waste of waters, where we were scudding entirely 
alone ; some other vessels which had been in sight at sunset 
had now totally disappeared. The passengers, and Yoosef-ebn- 
IChamees among the number, dismayed by the mad roll of the 
ship, no longer steadied by a stitch of canvas, by the dashing 
of the waves, and all the confusion of a storm, sat huddled 
below in the aft-cabin, while the helmsman, the captain, and 
myself, held on to the ropes of the quarter-deck, and so kept 
our places as best we might; the two Sonnees with the Nejdean 
recited verses out of the Coran ; the 'Omanee sailors laughed, 

r> d 2 



404 A Shipwreck [Chap, xin 

or tried to laugh, for some of them too began to think the matter 
serious; no one however anticipated the sudden catastrophe 
near at hand. 

It may have been, to judge by the height of the moon above 
the horizon, about ten of the night or a little earlier, when we 
remarked that the ship, instead of bounding and tossing over 
the waves as before, began to drive low in the water, with a 
heavy lurch of a peculiar character. One of the sailors ap- 
proached the captain and whispered in his ear; in reply the 
captain directed them to sound the hold. Two men went 
to work and found the lower part of the vessel full of water. 
Hastily they removed some side boardings, and saw a large 
stream pouring into the hold from sternwards : a plank had 
started. 

The captain rose in despair full length, and called out 
" Irmoo," " throw overboard," hoping that lightening the ship 
of her cargo might yet save her. In a moment the hatchways 
midships were removed, and all hands busy to execute the last 
and desperate duty. But no more than three bales had been 
cast into the deep when a ripple of blue phosphoric light crossed 
the main deck ; the sea was already above board. No chance 
remained. " Ikhamoo," " plunge for it," shouted the captain, 
and set the example by leaping himself amid the waves. All 
\ this passed in less than a minute; there was no time for de- 
\ liberation or attempt to save anything. 

How to get clear of the whirl which must follow the ship's 
going down was my first thought. I clambered at once on the 
quarter-deck, which was yet some feet raised above the triumph 
of tht lashing waves, invoked Him who can save by sea as well 
as by land, and dived head foremost as far as I could. After a 
few vigorous strokes out, I turned my face back towards the 
ship, whence a wail of despair had been the last sound I had 
heard. There I saw amid the raging waters the top of the 
mizen-mast just before it disappeared below with a spiral 
movement while I was yet looking at it. Six men — five pas- 
sengers and one sailor — had gone down with the vessel. A 
minute later, and boards, mats, and spars were floating here 
and there amid the breakers, while the heads of the surviving 
swimmers now showed themselves, now disappeared, in the 
moongleam and shadow. 



Chap. XIII] A Shipwreck 405 

So rapidly had all this taken place that I had not a moment 
for so much as to throw off a single article of dress ; though 
the buffeting of the waves soon eased me of turban and girdle. 
Nor had I even leisure for a thought of deliberate fear ; though 
I confess that an indescribable thrill of horror which had come 
over me when the blue glimmer of the water first rippled over 
the deck, though scarce notiqeu at the time, haunted me for 
months after. But at the ..actual moment the struggle for life 
left no freedom for backward-lookingvc^nsiderations, and I was 
already making for apiece of timber that floated not far off, 
when on looking, around more carefully I descried at some 
distance the ship's boat; she had been dragged after us thus 
far at a longvfow, Arab fashion, though who had cut her rope 
before the/ship foundered was what no one of us could ever 
discove^ She had now drifted some sixty yards off, and was 
dancing like an empty nutshell on the ocean. 

Being, like the Spanish sailors in " Don Juan," " well aware 
That a tight boat will live in a rough sea, Unless with breakers 
close beneath her lee," I gave up the plank, and struck out for 
the new hope of safety. By the time I reached her, three of the 
crew had already established themselves there before me ; they 
lent me a hand to clamber in ; others now came up, and before 
long nine men, besides the lad, nephew of the captain, were in 
her, closely packed. So soon as I found myself in this ark of 
respite, though not of safety, I bethought me of Yoosef, whom 
I had not seen since the moment of our wreck. He was not" 
along with us ; but while, scarce hoping, I shouted out his name 
over the waters to give him a chance of a signal, " Here I am 
master, God be praised !" answered the dripping head; and we 
hauled him in to take his fortune with the rest. 

We were now twelve — namely, the captain, his nephew, the 
pilot, and four of the crew; the remaining five consisted of one 
of the passengers from 'Okdah — for the other had gone down 
in the ship, the runaway scapegrace of Manfoohah, and a 
native of Soweyk, besides Yoosef and myself. Three others at 
this moment came swimming up, and wished to enter. But the 
boat, calculated to contain eight or nine at most, was already 
over-loaded, especially for so mad a sea, and to admit a new 
burden was out of the question. However the poor fellows got 
hold of a spare yard-arm which had floated up from the sunken 



40 6 A Shipwreck [Chap, xm 

vessel ; this we made fast to the boat's stern by a rope, and thus 
took the three in tow clinging to it, two passengers and a sailor. 

Four oars were stowed in the boat, and her rudder, unshipped, 
lay in the bottom, along with a small iron anchor and an extra 
plank or two. The anchor was without delay heaved over- 
board by the pilot and myself as a superfluous weight, and so 
were the planks. Meanwhile some of the sailors proposed to 
do as much for the passengers ; observing, not without a certain 
show of reason on their side, that with so many on board there 
could be remarkably little hope of ever reaching shore, that the 
boat was after all the sailors' right, and the rest might manage 
on the beam astern as best they could. Fortunately during the 
voyage I had become a particular friend of the captain and 
pilot, besides earning the especial good will of a merry sturdy 
young seaman now in the boat. So I addressed myself to them 
first, and then to all the crew, and declared the expulsory 
proposition to be utterly unjust, wicked, and not fit for discus- 
sion ; and then, to cut short reply, I proceeded, aided by the 
pilot, who seconded me manfully throughout, to distribute the 
oars among the sailors; as indeed it was high time to do in 
order to steady' the boat, over which every wave now broke, 
threatening to send us to the bottom after her old companion. 
The captain took post at the rudder, while the pilot and myself 
set to baling out the water, partly with a leathern bucket which 
one of the crew had kept the presence of mind to bring with 
him from the ship (holding the handle between his teeth no less 
cleverly than Caesar did his sword off the Alexandrian Pharos), 
and partly with a large scoop belonging to the boat ; both im- 
plements were in constant requisition, since every bucketful or 
scoopful of water thrown out was by the next wave repaid with 
usury, so fiercely did the storm rage around. 

The Sonnee of Djebel-'Okdah sat up in the boat, repeating 
verses of the Coran ; the captain's nephew showed extraordinary 
spirit for a boy of his age ; the sailors managed their oars with 
much skill and courage, keeping us carefully athwart the roll of 
the sea; the rest, and I am sorry to say Yoosef-ebn-Khamees 
for one, were so terribly frightened, that tney had completely 
lost their wits, and lay like dead men amid the water in the 
boat's bottom, neither raising a head nor saying a word. 

Indeed our position, though not wholly without a gleam of 



Chap, xiii] A Shipwreck 407 

hope, seemed very nearly desperate. We were in an open over- 
loaded boat, her movements yet further embarrassed by the beam 
in tow, far out at sea, so far as to be quite beyond view of coast, 
though the high shore hereabouts can be seen at a long distance 
even by moonlight, with a howling wind, every moment on the 
increase, and tearing waves like huge monsters coming on as 
though with purpose to swallow us up — what reasonable chance 
had we of ever reaching land % All depended on the steerage, 
and on the balance and support afforded/by the oars ; and even 
more still on the providence of Him who made the deep ; nor 
indeed could I get myself to think that He had brought me 
thus far to let me drown just at the end of my journey, and in 
so very unsatisfactory a way too ; for had we then gone down, 
what news of the event off Sowadah would ever have reached 
home ? or when 1 — so that altogether I felt confident of getting 
somehow or another on shore, though by what means I did not 
exactly know. The Mahometans on board (they were two) — 
so at least, poor fellows, their demeanour seemed to show, — 
prayed as best they might; the Biadeeyah mostly kept silence, 
or exchanged a few words relative to the management of the 
boat, while the young sailor already mentioned cracked jokes as 
coolly as though he had beeniin his cottage on shore, making 
the rest laugh in spite of themselves, and thus keepiug up their 
spirits — the best thing just then to be done ; for to lose heart 
would have been to lose all. 

From an idea that so learned a man (in Arab estimation) as 
I, ought, among other acquirements, to be better acquainted 
with the chart than any one else, and perhaps, too, because I 
seemed less thrown out of my reckonings than most of our 
party, all referred to me for the direction of our hazardous 
course. By the stars, a few of which were dimly visible between 
mist and moonlight, I guessed the whereabouts of the shore. 
It lay almost due south ; but the hurricane had now veered and 
blew from between west and north ; hence we were obliged to 
follow a south-easterly line, in order to avoid the certain de- 
struction of giving a broadside to the waves. Once sure of this 
point, I made the men keep our boat's head steady on the tack 
just explained* and for a long hour we pulled on, baling out the 
water every moment, and encouraging each other to keep up 
good heart ; that land could not be far off. At last I saw by 



408 A Shipwreck [Chap, xiii 

the milky moonlight a rock which I remembered sighting on 
the previous afternoon ; it was the rock of Djeyn, an outlying 
point of the Sowadah group, and now at some distance on our 
leeboard. "Courage!" I cried out, "there is Djeyn." "Say 
it again ; say it again ; God bless you ! " they all exclaimed, as 
though the repetition of the good news would make it of yet 
better augury; but I perceived that none of them had his senses 
enough about him to see the black peak, which now loomed 
distinct over the sea. " Is it near ?" asked he of Djebel-'Okdah. 
"Close by," I answered, with a slight inaccuracy, which the 
duty of cheering the crew might, I hope, excuse : "pull away; 
we shall soon pass it." But in my own individual thought I 
much doubted the while whether we ever should, so rapidly 
did the boat fill from the spray around, while a moment's mis- 
steerage would have sent us all to the bottom. 

Another hour of struggle : it was past midnight, or there- 
abouts, and the storm, instead of abating, blew stronger and 
stronger. A passenger, one of the three on the beam astern, 
felt too numb and wearied out to retain his hold by the spar 
any longer ; he left it, and swimming with a desperate effort up 
to the boat, begged in God's name to be taken in. Some were 
for granting his request, others for denying ; at last two sailors, 
moved with pity, laid hold of his arms where he clung to the 
boat's side, and helped him in. We were now thirteen toge- 
ther, and the boat rod4 lower down in the water and with more 
danger than ever; it wits literally a hand's breadth between life 
and death. Soon after ^another, Ibraheem by name, and also a 
passenger, made a similar attempt to gain admittance. To 
comply would have been sheer madness ; but the poor wretch 
clung to the gunwale and struggled to clamber over, till the 
nearest of the crew, after vainly entreating him to quit hold 
and return to the beam, saying, " It is your only chance of life, 
you must keep to it," loosened his grasp by main force, and 
flung him back into the sea, where he disappeared for ever. 
"Has Ibraheem reached you*?" called out the captain to the 
sailor now alone astride of the spar. " Ibraheem is drowned," 
came the answer across the waves. " Is drowned," all repeated 
in an undertone, adding, " and we too shall soon be drowned 
also." In fact such seemed the only probable end of all our 
endeavours. For the storm redoubled in violence ; the baling 



Chap, xiiij A Shipwreck 409 

could no longer keep up with the rate at which the waves 
entered, the boat became waterlogged ; the water poured in 
hissing on every side ; she was sinking, and we were yet far out 
in the open sea. 

" Ikhamoo," " plunge for it," a second time shouted the 
captain. " Plunge who may, I will stay by the boat so long as 
she stays by me," thought I, and kept my place. Yoosef, 
fortunately for him, was lying like a corpse, past fear or motion i 
but four of our party, one a sailor, the &ther three passengers, 
thinking that all hope of the boat was now over, and that 
nothing remained them but the spar, or Heaven knows what, 
jumped into the sea. Their loss saved the remainder ; the boat 
lightened and righted for & moment, the pilot and I baled away 
desperately, she rose clear\pnce more of the water : those in 
her were now nine in all — ei'g^it men and a boy, the captain's 
nephew. 

Meanwhile the sea was running mountains ; and during the 
paroxysm of struggle, while the boat pitched heavily, the cord 
attached from her stern to the beam snapped asunder. One 
man was on the spar. Yet a minute or so the moonlight showed 
us the heads of the five swimmers as they strove to regain the 
boat; had they done it we were all lost; then a huge wave 
separated them from us. " May God have mercy on the poor 
drowning men," exclaimed the captain: their bodies were 
washed ashore off Seeb three or four days later. We now 
remained sole survivors — if indeed we were to prove so. 

Our men rowed hard, and the night wore on ; at last the 
coast came in full view. Before us was a high black rock, 
jutting out into the foaming sea, whence it rose sheer like the 
wall of a fortress ; at some distance on the left a peculiar 
glimmer and a long white line of breakers assured me of the 
existence of an even and sandy beach. The three sailors now 
at the oars, and the man of 'Okdah who had taken the place 
of the fourth, grown reckless by long toil under the momentary 
expectation of death, and longing to see an end anyhow to this 
protracted misery, were for pushing the boat on the rocks, 
because the nearest land, and thus having it all over as soon 
as possible. This would have been certain destruction. The 
captain and pilot, well nigh stupefied by what they had under- 
gone, offered no opposition. I saw that a vigorous effort must 



4io A Shipwreck [Chap, xm 



jP 



be made-; jib I laid hold of diem both, shook them to arouse 
their attrition, and bade them take heed to what the rowers 
were about, adding that it was sheer suicide, and that our only 
hope of life was to bear up for the sandy creek, which I pointed 
out to them at a short distance. 

f Thus awakened from their lethargy, they started up, and 
joined me in expostulating with the sailors. But the men dog- 
gedly answered that they could hold out no more, that whatever 
land was nearest they would make for it, come what might ; and 
with this they pulled on straight towards the clirf. 

The captain hastily thrust the rudder into the pilot's hand, 
and springing on one of the sailors pushed him from the bench 
and seized his oar, while I did the same to another on the 
opposite side ; and we now got the boat's head round towards 
the bay. The refractory sailors, ashamed of their own faint- 
heartedness, begged pardon, and promised to act henceforth 
according to our orders* We gave them back their oars, very 
glad to see a strife so, dangerous, especially at such a moment, 
soon at an end ; and the men pulled for the left, though full 
half an hour's rowing yet remained between us and the breakers, 
and the course which we had to hold was more hazardous than 
before, because it laid the boat almost parallel with the sweep 
of the water : but half an hour ; — yet I thought we should never 
come opposite the desired spot. 

At last we neared it, and then a new danger appeared. The 
first row of breakers, rolling like a cataract, was still far off 
shore, at least a hundred yards ; and between it and the beach 
appeared a white yeast of raging waters, evidently ten or twelve 
feet deep, through which, weary as we all were, and benumbed 
with the night chill and the unceasing splash of the spray over 
us, I felt it to be very doubtful whether we should have strength 
to struggle. But there was no avoiding it ; and when we drew 
near the long white line which glittered like a witchfire in the 
night, I called out to Yoosef and the lad, both of whom lay 
plunged in deathlike stupor, to rise and get ready for the hard 
swim, now inevitable. They stood up, the sailors laid aside 
their oars, and a moment after the curling wave capsized the 
boat, and sent her down as though she had been struck by a 
cannon-shot, while we remained to fight for our lives in the sea. 
Confident in my own swimming powers, but doubtful how 



Chap. XIII] Escape 411 

far those of YoQKef might reach, I at once turned to look for 
him, and seeing him close by me in the water, I caught hold of 
him, telling/Kim to hold fast on, and I would help him to land. 
But witlymuch presence of mind he thrust back my grasp, ex- 
claiming, " Save yourself I am a good swimmer, never fear for 
me. VThe captain and the young sailor laid hold of the boy, the 
captain's nephew, one on either side, and struck out with him for 
the shore. It was a desperate effort, every wave overwhelmed 
us in its burst and carried us back in its eddy, while I drank 
much more salt water than was at all desirable. At last, after 
some minutes, long as hours, I touched land, and scrambled up 
the sandy beach, as though' the avenger of blood had been behind 
me. One by one the rest came ashore — some stark naked, having 
cast off or lost their remaining clothes in the whirling eddies ; 
others yet retaining sonie p$ri:t of their dress. Every one looked 
around to see whether his companions arrived ; and when all 
nine stood together on Jne beach, all cast themselves prostrate 
on the sands, to thankTHeaven for a new lease of life granted 
after much danger aria so many comrades lost. 

Then rising, they ran to embrace each other, laughed, cried, 
sobbed, danced. I never saw men so completely unnerved as 
they on this first moment of sudden safety. One grasped the 
ground with his hands, crying out, " Is this really land we are 
on V another said, " And where are our companions fa third, 
" God have mercy on the dead ; let us now thank Him for our 
own lives :" a fourth stood bewildered ; all their long and hard- 
stretched self-possession quite gave way. Yoosef had lost his 
last rag of dress; I Had fortunately yet on two long shirts (one 
is still by me), reaching down to the feet, Arab fashion. I now 
gave my companion one, keeping the other for myself; my red 
scull-cap had also held firm on my head, so that I was as well 
off or better than any. " We may count this day for the day of 
our birth ; it is a new life after death," said the young 'Omanee 
sailor. " There have been others praying for us at home, and 
for their sake God has saved us," added the pilot, thinking 
of his family and children. " True ; and more so perhaps 
than you know of," replied I, remembering some yet further 
distant. 

While we were thus conversing, and beginning to look around 
and wonder on what part of the coast we had landed, the distant 



412 Escape [Chap, xiii 

sound of a gun was heard on the right. " That must be the 
morning gun of Seeb," said the captain. Seeb, being a fortified 
town, and often a royal residence, has the privilege of a garrison 
and artillery; now from the whereabouts of our wreck oppo- 
site Sowadah we could not be very far thence. We were yet 
discussing this point, when another gun made itself heard from 
inland. " That must be from the palace at Bathat-Farzah" 
(the valley of Farzah), said another. " Thoweynee is certainly 
there, for the palace guns never fire except when the sultan is 
in residence with his court." 

It was now the first glimmer of doubtful dawn, and the wind 
sweeping furiously along the beach rendered some shelter neces- 
sary ; for we were dripping and chilled to the bone. So we 
crept to leeward of a cluster of bushes, and there each dug out 
for himself a long trench in the sand ; and after having thus 
put ourselves in some degree under cover, we waited for the 
morning, which seemed as though it would never come. At 
last the moonlight faded away, and the sun rose, though his 
rays did not reach us quite so soon as we should have desired, 
for the creek where we had landed was bordered on either side 
by high hills, shutting out the horizon. These hills ended in 
precipices towards the sea ; on the left was the very rock on 
wrrch the despairing impatience of the crew had almost driven 
us the night before ; it looked horrible. The wind yet blew 
high, and we were shivering with cold in our scanty clothing. 
Those who, like myself, had come on shore with more than what 
was absolutely necessary for decency, had shared it with those 
who had nothing. When the sunbeams at last struck over the 
hill side on the right, we hastened to warm ourselves and to dry 
our apparel — a task speedily performed with so slender a ward- 
robe. Next we reconnoitred the position, with which some of 
the crew found themselves to be not wholly unacquainted; it 
was a little to the east of Seeb ; but between us and that town 
was a high and broad range of rocks, on which our naked feet 
had no great disposition to venture; on the west we were 
hemmed in by a corresponding barrier. But landwards the 
valley ran up sandy between the hills, and in that direction 
appeared an easier path, leading ultimately, so the sailors averred, 
to the sultan's country palace — the same whence we had heard 
the night gun, nor could it be very far off. Once at the palace, 



Chap. XIII] Escape 4I3 

all reckoned on the well-known liberality of Thoweynee for 
obtaining assistance. Thither we resolved to go; yet before 
setting out we turned back to look once more on the sea, still 
raging in mad fury. Not a trace of our saviour boat appeared, 
not a sail in sight, though the day before (a day that now 
seemed a year ago) there had been many. Ten large vessels, 
part belonging to the Persian coast, part to the 'Omanee, had 
gone down besides our own, close to the Sowadah rocks, that 
very night ; three, as I afterwards learned, 4>erished with every 
soul on board ; from one alone the entire crew escaped ; the 
rest lost some more, some less: we had at any rate companions 
in misfortune. Gazing on the ocean, every one made aloud the 
ordinary resolution of shipwrecked sailors never to attempt the 
faithless element again; a resolution kept, I doubt not, as 
steadily as most such — that is, for a fortnight or three weeks. 

We then proceeded to toil southwards across sands and slopes 
in quest of the king's residence. "A sorry plight," said I to 
Yoosef, " for us to present ourselves in before his majesty; were 
the gifts along with us, our visit might be more to the purpose." 
Yoosef sighed ; that part of our misadventure fell indeed mainly 
on him. For myself, I had of course lost every article retained 
since our parting from Aboo-'Eysa at Menamah. What annoyed 
me more seriously was the loss of all my notes, taken from 
January 23rd up to the present date, namely March 10th, and 
herein must lie my apology for a certain amount of omission 
and incompleteness during the part of my story included between 
those periods, perhaps even some involuntary inaccuracies. To 
the disappearance of my cash in hand I was less sensible, though 
in fact it was scarcely a joke to find oneself penniless with a 
penniless and nearly naked companion, in a strange land, 
and far from friends or resources. J$ut all this was a trifle if 
compared to the mishap of the captain— deprived of ship, cargo, 
and everything except the shirt on his B^ck ; the rest of the 
crew were, in proportion, no better off. However, several had 
lost what was far more essential,— Aeir lives, arid in comparison 
with them we might well deem ourselves fortunate. 

So we walked on, half merry, half sad, and all very feeble, till 
an hour or so before noon. At last we crossed a ridge where 
trees began to mingle with the low bushes of the coast, and 
suddenly had the Balkan full in view. It was a pretty and 






4 1 4 Escape [Chap, x hi 

wooded hollow, amid high peaked granite hills ; below all was 
green, save in one part of the valley, where a patch of clean sand 
spread out over some extent. By the side of this, was the palace, 
strikingly resembling a chateau of Louis XIII's time, such as 
I have often seen in Central France. It consists of a central 
pavilion with side wings symmetrically arranged, open balco- 
nies running round the first ^orey, and steps leading up to the 
principal entrance; in shorf it is the most European-looking 
construction that I have round in Arabia. This palace was 
erected by Sultan Sa'eed, and, I believe, by Western builders 
under his orders. Around stand long ranges of stables and 
outhouses. Here, beneath a wing of the edifice and close by a 
private entrance, sat Thoweynee himself, in the midst of his 
court, enjoying the morning air in the shade; before him about 
three hundred hoi semen were engaged in the evolutions and 
caprices of a mock fight. Tents were pitched here and there 
among the trees; all w^life, cheerfulness, and security; a very 
different scene from/tnat which we had so lately beheld and 
shared in. / 

We halted awhile behind a screen of foliage, whence unseen 
we could ourselves see the king and his attendants. Before 
long the parade was over, and the cavaliers, after saluting their 
sultan, rode off to quarters at a little distance. We then ad- 
vanced ; after a few steps some of the bystanders perceived us, 
and came up. " Doubtless you belong to one of last night's 
wrecks," said they ; " we had just been talking about the pro- 
bable loss of many ships iii the storm, and here you are to 
witness." After this greeting they led us without further preface 
before Thoweynee. 

I could scarcely keep from laughing at the figure I made ; 
but it was perhaps fortunate for my incognito with Thoweynee, 
whose royal eyes must have rested times out of number on 
Europeans of different categories, and who might have likely 
enough recognized the English traveller if under a better guise, 
and in more seemly circumstances. But to pick out an English- 
man from amid our barelegged castaway band would have re- 
quired a conjuror; and Thoweynee, whatever his mother may 
be, is not that himself. We now stood before him. He was 
handsomely, even gorgeously, dressed in fine white robes, lightly 
embroidered with a flowered pattern, and wearing a large and 



Chap, xiii] Thoweynee in the Country 415 

white Cachemire turban, surmounted by a diamond, with a 
magnificent golden dagger in his jewelled belt. His person is 
stout, and his face handsome; its expression clever bat dissi- 
pated ; he looks like what he is, a genuine follower of Epicurus, 
but one who might have been something much better had he 
chosen. Shrewdness, good nature, and love of enjoyment make 
up his whole face, manner, and, it appears, character too. By 
his side sat a boy of dusky features, but splendidly dressed, his 
cap set with precious stones; this youth jsjhis eldest son by an 
Abyssinian concubine. Close by the king was the prime minis- 
ter and several others of high rank and birth, all dressed in white 
and gold; while numerous attendants, armed with swords and 
daggers, stood or sat around. 

Of course the captain acted for us the part of spokesman. 
The king received us with an air of compassion, enquired after 
the port to which our vessel had belonged, its cargo, its des- 
tination; how the ship had come to founder, how many had 
perished, how we ourselves had escaped ; and then, after pro- 
mising the unfortunate owner a compensation for his loss, gave 
orders that we should be lodged and taken care of in the 
palace. 

I wished Yoosef to take the word next, and to say something 
about the presents which he had been charged with, and by 
whom. But my man wanted courage to come forward, and 
feared that under the present circumstances he might be held 
for an impostor, while for my part I thought it not prudent to 
draw too much notice on myself, especially as I had perceived 
some north-country looking faces among the attendants. So I 
kept in the background, and awaited the result. Meanwhile 
one of the guards came up to Yoosef and myself and offered to 
be our host ; the sailors one after another were each claimed in 
the same hospitable way. We followed our conductor to his 
abode ; it was among the outbuildings of the palace, a large 
apartment, and inhabited by half a dozen of the royal swordsmen. 
Here all set about making us comfortable. I was soon provided 
with a pair of light trousers and a turban. Yoosef fared equally 
well ; a blazing fire was lighted, and pipes and coffee prepared, 
while more substantial fare was getting ready. During these 
operations we had to relate our story over and over again ; 
every one condoled, hoped, and what else is customary on such 



416 Thoweynee in the Country [Chap, xiii 

occasions. We made a very hearty meal of meat, rice, and 
saffron, along with raisins, dates, and whatever besides was at 
hand, and then lay down for a sound nap, — the first since our 
wreck, for the cold had/fiot permitted us to close our eyes 
during the morning on the beach. 

Two of the sailors made a return visit that very evening to 
the beach, where they found the broken planks of our boat, 
dashed to pieces by the surf. Of the ship we never heard or 
saw more — where she lay, not five but seventy or eighty fathoms 
deep, if the soundings of the Sowadah rocks be correct. 

When I awoke the afternoon was far advanced. I found 
Yoosef already up, and he proposed a walk to see the palace 
and its neighbourhood. 

We loitered about the Bathah till sunset, when one of the 
palace attendants presented us and our comrades with a small 
sum of money for immediate wants, and promise of more if we 
chose to abide for a day or two the Sultan's leisure. Ebn-Kha- 
mees and myself received in hand each a gold toman, value 
somewhat under ten shillings English ; this would hardly suffice 
for adventuring on an onward journey of any length, and we 
thought of waiting and trying the further extent of Ebn-Sa'eed's 
generosity, when a circumstance occurred which determined me 
on quitting the vicinity of the palace and the Bathah without 
delay. 

We had just finished our supper, night had closed in, and we 
were sitting guests and hosts round the fire at coffee, when a 
well-dressed negro came in, and, after due salutations, presented 
me with his master's compliments and invitation to honour him 
with my company. I rose and followed my black conductor, 
who led me to a neat tent pitched at some distance. There I 
found two ex-Turkish officers, for both had been in the great 
Sultan's service, till for reasons best known to themselves they 
had found the Ottoman army and territory too hot for them, 
and had, in plain English, deserted. The one had come straight 
to 'Oman; the other had roamed the world far as Bombay, Cal- 
cutta, and even Singapore and Malacca; his peregrinations had 
procured him a most extensive , acquaintance with English, In- 
dians, Malays, and all kind of people. He himself, though 
once holding a commission in the Ottoman troops, was not of 
Turkish but Albanian descent. " We noticed you," said he to 



Chap, xiii] Thoweyme in the Country 417 

me in the broken Arabic peculiar to that class of men, and by 
which they may readily be recognized, "and concluded from 
your appearance that you do not, like your companions, belong 
to this country." This was said with much politeness, and was 
accompanied by the offer of a silver-mounted Nargheelah, with 
other minutiae of Eastern courtesy, so that I found myself toler- 
ably at ease, in spite of a remark evidently intended as a pro- 
logue to further enquiry. We next entered on a long and lively 
conversation, wherein I told him what I ffrought fit to tell, and 
my new acquaintance, animated by libations of something better 
than coffee, namely, good Cognac out of a black bottle, to which 
he and his friend made frequent applications, and which I must 
confess was not wholly declined by myself under the circum- 
stances, recounted his own past history, his adventures by land 
and flood, how he had come into Thoweynee's service, and so 
on, with perhaps a little more fluency than exactness. " In vino 
Veritas," — sometimes also the reverse. At last the lateness 
of the hour and my own fatigue furnished. me with a decent 
pretext for retiring, and I took my leave, while my enter- 
tainer assured me that next day he would not fail to return 
the visit, and that we would then have further conversation. 

However, I was very far from ambitious of the proposed 
honour— not that I cared much at the moment whether Thowey- 
nee, his minister (who, as I afterwards learnt, had really his 
doubts about me, and who had probably given the password of 
investigation to the Albanian), and all 'Oman too, from Cape 
Mesandum to Ras-el-Hadd, knew who and what I was, feeling 
sure from what I had already seen and heard, that such know- 
ledge would breed no immediate harm or hindrance. But the 
Meteyree and his Nejdeans were just now at court, and I feared 
lest the news, with extensive Arab amplifications, might find its 
way to Bereymah, and thence to Nejed, and have ill results, at 
least for Aboo-'Eysa, who would in that case appear to have 
been all along, directly and indirectly, by himself and by his 
men, bear-leader and accomplice to that dreaded monster, a 
spy. Besides I had yet on hand the appointment to meet Aboo- 
'Eysa on the Persian coast ; Barakat was still with him, and the 
consequences of a premature detection might be very disagree- 
able. So, without explaining to Yoosef matters which nowise 
concerned him, I gave him to know that it was my high will 

E E 



4 1 8 Environs of Mascat [Chap, xiii 

and pleasure to leave the Sultan and his court to themselves, 
and to start the very next morning for Mascat, where doubtless 
something would turn up in our favour ; adding many pertinent 
sayings about the vanity of putting one's trust in princes, and 
the like. Yoosef easily allowed himself to be persuaded; he 
was, in fact, so unhinged by the preceding night, that it cost no 
difficulty to lead him one way or another like a very child. 

Accordingly next morning early we sought a pair of shoes, 
for my feet did not at all relish the angular pebbles thick- 
strewn over most of the ground. in the Mascat district. But 
shoes were none to be found, so off we started barefoot, leaving 
our hosts engaged in their duties of morning parade, and Tho- 
weynee probably asleep. Qn the second day we reached Mas- 
cat, passing through the large town of Matrah. Mascat, or at 
least its harbour, forts, and buildings, has been often and suffi- 
ciently described. NiAuhr, Welsted, and many others have 
made here, some a longer, and some a shorter stay; not to 
mention that English steamers on their backward and forward 
way between Bombay and Basrah, touch here regularly twice in 
every month, though their anchorage is only for a few hours. 
Let me here, therefore, cut a long tale short. The catastrophe 
of my story has been passed ; little remains but, after the fashion 
of Sir Walter Scott, to sum up the fortunes of the survivors, so 
far as I can here tell them. The hospitality of a Has a mer- 
chant, Astar by name, and long since a settler in Mascat, pro- 
vided Yoosef and myself with lodging, board, and raiment. 
And one evening, while sauntering about the booths of the fair, 
in quest of a more elegant dagger than that which at the time 
adorned my waist, I met our old shipmates, the captain and 
with him two of his crew, now well dressed and in good spirits, 
having received from the Sultan's liberality enough to render 
their past misfortune almost advantageous ; they were about to 
return to Soweyk, and recommence afresh the gains and the 
hazards of a sea life ; I trust under better auspices. 

After about a week passed at Mascat I began to consider 
seriously with Yoosef what was next to be done. But my 
companion had now only one thought, namely, how to return 
without delay to his patron at Aboo-Shahr ; the journey had 
no longer any attractions for him, either of profit or pleasure ; 
while the terrors of the shipwreck and the hardships which 






Chap xiii] Return Home 419 

followed had made him look ten years older than he had ap- 
peared a fortnight before. For myself also I began to think 
that we had done and suffered enough for this time, and that 
the rest might fairly be left to a future occasion ; the more so 
since the mere return from Mascat to Bagdad, and thence to 
Syria, was a tolerably long prospect, above all in the summer 
season now drawing on. In g'ddition an indescribable feeling 
of weariness and low spirits, for which I could not then account, 
but which was in reality th/ " incubation " (to use a medical 
term) of a bad typhoid fever, hung about me, and made me/ 
still more indisposed to additional excursions. Thus I sur- 
rendered the idea of investigating 'Oman. A sea-captain of 
Koweyt, whose vessel was to sail with the first fair wind, 
offered to carry us to Aboo-Shahr, while he refused to take 
any passage-money in requital : saying that it would be a 
shanje to exact payment from men who had so lately suffered 
shipwreck. 

At last, on March 23rd, towards evening, we took leave of 
our host Astar, and of other kind friends ; and while I walked 
down to the harbour accompanied by Yoosef and by four or five 
particular acquaintances, I felt that my steps were finally home- 
ward bound in good earnest. Nor was that feeling wholly un- 
mixed with regret, nor without a hope, however distant, of once 
more revisiting these strange and pleasant lands. We embarked 
in a negro canoe, and pulled for about two hours round cape 
and headland till we sighted the ship's lantern and climbed up 
her dark sides long after nightfall. That same night, while we 
cleared out of the outmost harbour and stood for the open sea, 
1 watched the Southern Cross, the lower limb of which is here 
four or five degrees above the horizon; though had it been 
down to the very water's edge, the clear atmosphere would have 
rendered every star visible. It was an old friend, seen again for 
a short space after an absence of many years, and soon to be 
hidden from sight, not from remembrance. 

The captain and his crew kept up from first to last the same 
friendly and courteous ways of which they had given us a speci- 
men at Mascat, nor was there reason for any complaint against 
our numerous, fellow-passengers, mostly Indians from Lucknow 
and its neighbourhood. The ship was large, clean, and this 
time at least, watertight ; well for us that she was so, for about 

e e 2 



420 Return Home [Chap, xiii 

half way up the Gulf we encountered a tempest, worse perhaps 
than that which sent our old 'Omanee craft to the bottom. But 
I was now taking very little notice of good or bad around ; for 
the fever which I had contracted at Mascat here declared itself 
in full force. Nor was I the only sufferer in the ship ; one of the 
Indians had taken it also while on shore, and died before we 
reached our destination. Sailors and captain did their best to 
nurse me; but beyond what relief sympathizing faces and kind 
words can give, an Arab ship has little wherewithal to meet the 
requirements of a sick man. At last we anchored before Aboo- 
Shahr; the crew carried me, for I could no longer move, on 
their shoulders, and Yoosef-ebn-Khamees led the way to the 
residence of Aboo-'Eysa, who had in his own mind put us down 
long since in the lengthy catalogue of others, men and vessels, 
who had perished on the night of March 9th. Barakat had 
already gone on to Basrah, and thence to Bagdad, where he was 
awaiting me ; Aboo-'Eysa, with his Persian convoy of pilgrims, 
about a hundred and twenty in number, was in a few days to 
leave Aboo-Shahr for Bahreyn, and so to Has a. 

Here I received the latest news regarding the fall of 'Oneyzah 
and the triumph of the Wannabees in the West. But the fever, 
now at its height, left me small leisure to care for events near 
or far; in fact, I was constantly, with few and doubtful intervals, 
in that state of half-delirium so wearisome in typhoid illness. 
The Indian steamer arrived on April 10th, and took me to 
Basrah, where some sailors put me on board a river steam-boat, 
then commanded by Captain Selby of the Indian Navy. Here 
generous and open-hearted kindness, that proper badge of an 
Englishman and a sailor, supplied me with good treatment and 
medical assistance of every sort, or my journey would probably 
have ended, like the wanderings of many another traveller, in 
quitting the world altogether. Our 'voyage up the Tigris, now 
swollen by spring inundations, lasted seven days ; on the eighth 
we landed at Bagdad, where the hospitality of Captain Selby and 
other friends, English, Swiss, ghd French, went far to restore 
me, if not to perfect health, at least to a favourable convales- 
cence. Here, after a few days, I met once more my old and 
faithful companion Barakat; his joy on seeing me again after 
so many sinister reports/ and fear outbalancing hope, may be 
easier imagined than described. I should notice that news of 



Chap, xiii] Return Home 42 1 

the March storm had reached Bagdad, where many enquiries 
awaited me regarding the loss or escape of sundry vessels in 
which the merchants of that town had a special interest. 

Our return route lay by Kerkook, Mosoul, Mardeen, Diar- 
Bekr, Orfah, and thence round to Aleppo and Syria. It was a 
track new to Barakat and myself, and hence full of charm to us, 
but might be less so to my readers ; — rendered, I doubt not, 
sufficiently familiar with that part of the world by numerous 
and better written narratives than min^ Indeed it is only the 
apology of novelty that can excuse to myself what, remember- 
ing the wealthy interest of the land, I must feel are at the best 
but imperfect outlines of Central and Eastern Arabia, from 
Ma'an to Mascat. Much, how much ! is left untold ; — reserved, 
I trust, for some more fortunate traveller than he who now bids 
the reader a hearty Farewell. 



INDEX. 



ARE 

y A ARED, the military province 
£\. of the Wahhabee empire, 
273, 298 

' Abd- Allah- ebn-Rasheed, founder of 
Djebel S homer dynasty, history 
of, 84 

'Abd- Allah (Feysul's eldest son), 
chief ruler at Ri'ad, 292 ; the in- 
terviews with him, 304 ; his ma- 
levolent feelings, 324; his pro- 
posal, 329 ; the last interview, 

'Abd-el-'Azeez, Feysul's minister : 
his character, 231 

'Abd-el-Hameed, Feysul's spy, 234, 
240 

'Abd-el-Mahsin, friend of Telal, 
his visit to the traveller, 82 

Aboo-'Eysa, his character, 1 70; 
guide to Ri'ad, 1 74 ; help in the 
escape from Ri'ad, 333; his home 
at Hofhoof, 349 

'Anezah, breed of horses of, 135 

Arabia, domestic life of, described, 
33, 49 ; customs during illness, 
115 ; public worship, 119 ; social 
life at Ri'ad, 279 ; at Hofhoof, 
350; at Hasa, 357; general type 
of the country, 62 ; of the central 
region, 204; wells, 181 ; Arabian 
warfare, 184; music, 171 ; negroes 
and population in Nejed, 270 ; 
general estimate of population, 
298 ; horses, 135, 305. See also 
Bedouins ', Nejed, Wahhabee 

Architecture, Arabian domestic, 32 ; 
general characteristics, 1 66 ; watch 
towers in the Djowf, 41 ; in Ka- 
seem, 146 ; ancient castle and 
Cyclopean arch, 51 ; palace at 



BRE 

Ha'yel, 72 ; monolithic monu- 
ment, 147 ; the town square of 
Bereydah, 1 78 ; palace at Ri'ad, 
232 ; mosque, 266 ; vaulted mar- 
ket place at Hofhoof, 352 ; at 
Hasa, 361 ; arched vaulting at 
Karmoot, 375 
'Asr, division of time in the East, 
119 

BAHREYN, the islands of, 380 
Barakat-esh-Shamee, name as- 
sumed by traveller's companion, 
103 

Bathat-Farzah, the 'Omanee king's 
palace, 412; traveller's reception 
at, after the shipwreck, 414 

Bedouins, the, described, 15 ; their 
warfare, 23 ; hostile encounter 
with, 137 ; number of, in Central 
Arabia, 299, 301 ; tribes of the 
Great Desert, 342 

Be'er Shekeek, well of, 59 

Benoo-Tameen, the Arabian family 
of, 273 

Bereydah, journey to, 131 ; first 
sight of, 155, 163; governor's 
castle of, 166 ; feeling in, against 
Feysul, 168 ; life in, 176; market 
place and mosque, 179 

Botany, Arabian, notices of: the 
desert colocynth, 7 ; the samh, 21 ; 
the ghada plant, 24 ; vegetation of 
Nejed, 142 ; grass, 202 ; cotton 
plant, 149 ; the narcotic plant of 
Kaseem, 150; the Stramonium 
datura, 150; the sidr and markh 
trees, 205 ; vegetation in Hasa, 
356. See also Coffee, Dates 

Bread, Arabian forms of, 49, 215 



424 



Index. 



CAM 

CAMEL, characteristics of, 25 ; 
instance of ferocity, 26 ; com- 
pared with the dromedary, 195 ; 
breeds of, 268 
Coffee, Arabian method of boiling, 

36; different kinds of, 257 
Coinage, the, of Hasa, 367 
Cotton plant, growth of, in Kaseem, 
149 



DAHNA, the Red Desert, de- 
scribed, 61 ; crossed in the 
journey from Ri'ad, 340 

Dates, various kinds of, 148, 364 

Derey'eeyah, ruins of, 225 

Desert, the, first aspect of, 5. (See 
also Dahncl^ Nefood) 

Djamia', Arabian name of the prin- 
cipal mosque, 266 

Djebel Shomer, approach to, 70; 
history of the province, 84 ; view 
of mountains of, 104 ; revenue 
and population of, 300 

Djebel Toweyk, the mountain range 
of, 204 ; climate of, 207 ; view 
from highest point of, 218 

Djereeshah, the staple food of the 
Djowf, 49 

Djobbah, first sight of, 67 ; village 
of, 68 

Djowf, view of the, from the north, 
30 ; described, 39 ; towers in, 
40 ; gardens, 42 ; population, 44; 
castle of, 50 

Dromedary, description of, 195 



EARTHQUAKES in Arabia, 
355 
Eyn-Nejm, sulphurous spring at, 

347 
'Eyoon, monolithic monument at, 
146 



FAIRS in Hasa, 362 
Feysul, his attack on Hasa, 
S6 ; exacts tribute from Persian 
pilgrims, 160; his palace, 233; 
visit from his spies, 240, 243 ; 
his foundation of the Zelators, 244 ; 



KAT 

fear of the travellers, 251 ; his 
treasurer, 276 ; family, 292 ; 
horses, 305 ; his prime minister, 
311; his appearance in public, 
321 
Fumigation, ceremony of, 280 

GHADA, the desert plant, 24 
Ghafil, the author's host in 
Djowf, 47 
Grass, the, of Nejed, 202 

HAMOOD, governor of Djowf, 
50; his pass to Djebel Sho- 
• mer, 57 

Harb Bedouins, attack of, 137 

Hasa, district of, 354 ; earthquakes, 
355 ; products, 356 ; inhabitants, 
358 ; houses, 361 ; fairs, 362 ; 
dates, 364 ; women, 366 ; coin- 
age, 367 

Ha'yel, city of, 71 ; the palace, 72; 
recognition of the travellers there, 
75 ; lodging there, 102 ; the ad- 
jacent country, 104 ; the market 
place, 105 ; medical practice in, 
106 ; aspect of population of, 
113; social life, 1 14, 123; de- 
parture from, 129 

Hof hoof described, 351 ; social life 
there, 359, 364; hot well near, 

365 

Horeymelah, the birthplace of 
founder of Wahhabeeism, 220 

Horses, exportation of, from Arabia 
to Bombay, 135; the Nejdean 
horses, 305 



IBRAHEEM BACHA, fortresses 
he erected in Central Arabia, 
221, 223, 225 
Ithel tree, the, 142 



KARMOOT, palace of, 375 
Kaseem, Upper, 136; South- 
ern, 145 ; botanical productions, 
148-150; inhabitants, 151 ; rural 
life, 187 ; towns, 176 ; wells, 181 
Katar, province of, 387 



Index. 



425 



KAT 

Kateef, town, 372 

Keysareeyah, name of vaulted mar- 
ket-places, 352 

Khalas, dates, 364 

K'hawah, the reception-rooms of 
Arabia, described, 32 

Khodeyreeyah, the Mulatto race in 
Central Arabia, 272 

Khosheym, the crag, 204 



LINJA, bay of, 391 
Locusts, swarm of, in the 
desert, 345 



MA'AN, description and start 
of traveller from, 1 
Ma'dinah, Arabic word for a mi- 
naret, 267 
Mahboob, Feysul's prime minister, 

3" 

Marid, tower of, 50 

Markh tree, the, 205 
Mascat, stay at, 418 
Meddey'yeeyah, the Wahhabee Ze- 

lators, 244 
Menamah, island of, described, 380 
Mesa'a, fruit used by Bedouins, 22 
Mesjid, or musallas, Arabic word 

for the smaller mosques, 266 
Meta'ab, brother of Telal, his 

character, 95 
Metowwaa', Arabic word for a 

clergyman, 53 
Mirage, sight of, 199 
Moghor, caverns of, 360 
Mohanna, governor of Bereydah, 

162; visit to, 166 
Moharrek, island of, described, 380 
Mountains, the, of Djebel S homer, 

65 ; of Djebel Toweyk, 204 ; of 

Hasa, 344 
Music, Arabian, 185 



NEB A A' tree, the, 142; in the 
province of Hasa, 356 
Nefood, the sand passes of the 
desert, 61 ; journey through, 62 ; 
between Bereydah and Ri' ad, 199 
Negroes, in Arabia, 270 



PAL 

Nejed, the highlands of Arabia, 62 
the breezes, 141 ; herbage, 142 ; 
monolithic monuments in, 147; 
pilgrim routes through, 160; diffi- 
culty of reaching Central Nejed, 
167; warfare in, 182; central 
district of, 204 ; wells in, 207 ; 
inhabitants of, 208; stream in, 
213; animals, 268; society, 272; 
horses/ 3° 7 

>^~\BEYD, the < Wolf,' his cha- 
\_J racter, 89 ; his warfares, 
93 ; his attempted treachery to 
the travellers, 128 

'Oman, coasts of, described, 396 

'Oneyzah, siege of, 117, 321, 391 ; 
attack by inhabitants of, on Berey- 
dah, 183; sight of, 189 

Ormuz, described, 398 

PALGRAVE, the author's de- 
parture from Ma'an, I; his 
equipment, 4; journey through 
the desert, 5 ; the semoom, 1 1 ; 
enters the Wadi Sirhan, 13; 
halt among the Sherarat Arabs, 
15; his stay in the Djowf, 37, 
life there, 48 ; visit to governor 
of, 50; departure, 57; journey 
through the desert, 62; reaches 
Djobbah, 67; Ha'yel, 71 ; re- 
cognised there, 75 ; audience with 
Telal, 99; practises medicine 
there, 102; leaves Ha'yel, 129; 
the Harb Bedouins, 133; his 
journey through Lower Kaseem, 
145 ; reaches Bereydah, 163; diffi- 
culties of journey to Central Nejed, 
167; meeting with his guide, 
Aboo'-Eysa, 170; life in Bereydah, 
176; departure, 193; the journey 
to Ri'ad, 200; stay at Toweym, 
214; first view of Ri'ad, 226; 
taken to Feysul's palace, 233; 
residence in Ri'ad, 240-335 ; 
Feysul's fears, 25 1 ; the second 
lodging, 255 ; medical practice at 
Ri'ad, 276, 287 ; sent for by 'Abd- 
Allah, 303; the visits to him, 
304; visits Feysul's stud of horses, 



426 



Index. 



PEA 

305; a visit from the Zelators, 
316; the difficulty with Abd- 
Allah, 326; flight from Ri'ad, 
334; crosses the Dahna, 340; 
reaches Hofhoof, 349 ; life there, 
361 ; reaches Kateef, 372 ; voy- 
age, 379-385 ; reaches Moharrek, 
380; lands at Sharjah, 397; at 
Ormuz, 398 ; the shipwreck, 403 ; 
at Thoweynee's palace, 414; 
reaches Mascat, 418; his illness 
and return home via Bagdad, 420 
Pearl fishery, the, 387 
Persian gulf, first sight of, 372 
Persian pilgrims, caravan of, 159; 
companions in the journey to 
Jvi'ad, 190; their treatment there, 

3H " 

Pilgrim routes through Central 

Nejed, 160 



RI'AD, journey to, from Berey- 
dah, 194; first view of, 227; 
lodgings at, 240; market, 261; 
population of, 262, 298; negroes 
in, 270 ; general description, 264; 
mosque of, 266; provinces of the 
empire, 298; estimate of public 
revenue, 299; departure of troops 
from against 'Oneyzah, 321 ; 
escape of the traveller from, 334 
Round towers in the Djowf, 41 



SALT-ROCK in Kaseem, 180 
Samh, article of food to Be- 
douins, 21 
Sa'ood, Feysul's second son, 293 
Scorpion, the, of the desert, 28 
Sedeyr, province of, 207; inhabi- 
tants of, 208, 296 
Seleem Abou Mahmood-el-'Eys, 
name assumed by the traveller, 

„ 130 

Semoom, description of, 1 1 

Sharjah, harbour of, 397 

Sheep, Arabian, 268 

Sherarat Arabs, the, described, 15; 
the feast, 19; companions in jour- 
ney to Djebel Shomer, 59, 63 



WEL 

Shipwreck, the, of the traveller, 403 

Sidr-tree, the, 205 

Snakes, scarcity of, in Arabia, 216 

Sohar, the port of, 400 

Solibah Arabs, the, 203; trick 

played by, 203 
Stramonium Datura, growth of, 150 



TALH-TREE, the, 142 
Tameen, family of, 273 

Telal-ebn-Rasheed, sovereign of 
Djebel Shomer, his character , 9, 
91 ; his palace at Ha'yel, 73; artil- 
lery, 77; interview with, 78; the 
history of his dynasty, 84; his 
reign, 91; audience with, 99; at 
afternoon prayers, 120; his pass- 
port, 126; estimate of public reve- 
nue, and population of his king- 
dom, 300 

Teymah, groves of, the Teman of 
Scripture, 67 

Themam, the grass of Nejed, 202 

Thoweynee, the Sultan of 'Oman, 
412; receives the traveller, 414 

Tobacco smoking, a sin in the tenets 
of Wahhabeeism, 212, 282 

Toweyk, derivation of the word, 205 

Toweym, town of, 214; difficulty of 
getting food in, 216 

Turkee-ebn-Sa'ood, refounder of the 
Wahhabee dynasty, 86 



WADI FAROOK:, great val- 
m ley of, 344 

Wadi Sirhan, the, described, 13 

Wahhabee dynasty, history of its 
re-establishment, in Djebel Sho- 
mer, 84; power in Central Nejed, 
167; government and taxation, 
188; the institution of the Zela- 
tors, 244; power of, 273; doc- 
trines, 281 ; estimate of the 
population and revenue of the 
Wahhabee Empire, 298 

Wasit, the oasis of, 200 

Wells in Kaseem, 181 ; character of 
Arabian wells, 185; in the Nejed, 
206; hot well near Hofhoof, 364 



Index. 



427 



ZAM 

ZAMIL, prime minister of Telal, 
79 
Zelators, foundation of the, 244; 
duties of, 246; visit from, to the 
traveller, 316 
Zodiacal Light, seen in Arabia, 186 
Zoology, Arabian: ostriches, 28; the 
desert scorpion, 28; deer, 202; 



ZUL 

scarcity of insects and snakes in 
Nejed, 216; hares and partridges, 
220; Nejdean sheep, 268; oxen, 
268; and game, 269; locusts, 345 
(see also Camels, Horses) 

Zoweymil-el-'Ateeyah, the governor 
of 'Oneyzah, 118, 168, 183 

Zulphah, halt at, 202 
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